Hijacking the Cass report does us all a disservice – and doesn’t help trans kids

A major report into the way vulnerable children seeking gender care are being let down by the NHS highlights an ‘extraordinary toxicity’, writes Sean O’Grady – toxicity that is startlingly present in reaction to the report

In her long-awaited report into gender services for children in the NHS, Dr Hilary Cass found no good clinical evidence to support prescribing hormones to under-18s (PA Wire)

If you were an alien recently arrived on Earth, and had happened upon the multiple front pages this morning talking about the Cass review – the major new report looking at the way vulnerable children seeking gender care are being let down by the NHS – you would come to the conclusion that the discussion was binary: that it was a polarised, “pick one side or the other” debate.

Reading reactions to the findings of the fair, sensible and comprehensive review, you would likely assume you were being forced to pick a team, captained by those who shout loudest. On one side: those who are staunchly against trans rights; who use platforms like Twitter/X to profess their strident views. On the other, those who are pro trans rights, upset by the very suggestion that young people who are questioning their gender identity may benefit, in turn, from being questioned.

You would probably conclude, sadly, that there was little nuance to the discussion, depending on what you were reading (and, pertinently, who).