The Cass Report: Anti-science and Anti-trans

The Cass Report: Anti-science and Anti-trans
Rebecca Watson

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For several months now, many of you have contacted me here on YouTube or on Patreon to ask my thoughts about the “Cass Report,” the slang term for the “Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People” commissioned by the UK’s National Health Services in order to guide their recommendations for kids who want gender-affirming care. We colloquially call it the “Cass Report” because the lead author was Hilary Cass, a past president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

The report took several years to compile, and the final result was published in April of this year. The NHS used preliminary findings in the report to guide some decisions, like halting the use of puberty blockers in kids with gender dysphoria. Because surprisingly, the conclusions of this seemingly very detailed nearly 400-page report was to recommend the exact opposite of the current global standards recommended by organizations like The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and every other major medical organization in the US.

Because the Cass Report recommended psychiatric care instead of medical interventions, it was largely embraced by transphobes around the world, who cited it as proof that treating kids with gender dysphoria is ultimately some kind of child abuse. And because I’ve talked in the past about the scientific basis for the current consensus that gender-affirming care is good actually, a lot of you were wondering if this report changed my mind.

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If you’re wondering why a systematic review this biased and poorly edited would be written, accepted, published, and used to guide public policy, I recommend this article from Mother Jones, published back in May, that summarizes what we now know about the making of the Cass Report.

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