Readers respond to an article by Freddy McConnell and an editorial about Dr Hilary Cass’s review of NHS England’s gender identity services for children and young people In our view, Freddy McConnell’s opinion piece (Hilary Cass’s proposals are mostly common sense. She must reject anti-trans bias with the same clarity, 11 April) implies that support for the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender (CAN-SG) fundamentally undermines trans people’s identities and rights, and that clinicians who question the innate model of gender identity – as do CAN-SG members – do not have the best interests ..read more

Glasgow-based Sandyford clinic issues update after Cass review found ‘weak evidence’ for use to treat gender incongruence Scotland’s only clinic to offer treatment to gender-questioning young people has paused prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in light of last week’s publication of the Cass review. The Sandyford clinic, based in Glasgow, which offers a range of services including emergency contraception, abortion and support for sexual assault victims as well as transgender healthcare, posted a service update online on Thursday morning ..read more

Proposal sparked intense debate in country but passed with 234 votes in favour and 94 against Sweden’s parliament has passed a law lowering the minimum age to legally change gender from 18 to 16 and making it easier to get access to surgical interventions. The law passed with 234 votes in favour and 94 against in Sweden’s 349-seat parliament ..read more

Rishi Sunak’s authority suffers blow as several Conservatives vote against bill, which clears first Commons hurdle with 383 votes to 67 At 12.30pm a transport minister will respond to an urgent question in the Commons tabled by Labour on job losses in the rail industry. That means the debate on the smoking ban will will not start until about 1.15pm. Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is one of the Britons speaking at the National Conservatism conference in Brussels starting today. The conference, which features hardline rightwingers from around the world committed to the NatCons’ ‘fa ..read more

Government under pressure to respond to Cass review which questioned medical basis for prescribing puberty blockers There is no case for closing Scotland’s only clinic to offer treatment to gender-questioning young people, Humza Yousaf has said, amid calls for the Scottish government to halt the service in the wake of the Cass review. The Sandyford clinic, based in Glasgow, offers a range of services including emergency contraception, abortion and support for sexual assault victims as well as transgender healthcare ..read more

Lucy Fraser calls on sporting officials to draw up ‘unambiguous’ guidelines on gender identity The culture secretary has called for transgender athletes to be banned from competing in female-only events as she urged sporting officials to draw up fresh guidelines to clarify the rules governing gender identity. Lucy Frazer wrote in the Mail that sports’ governing bodies needed to set out an “unambiguous position” on the issue, amid rows over trans athletes participating in female-only events including such as cycling, swimming and darts ..read more

Order allows ban to stand while lawsuits proceed, in decision critics call ‘an awful result for trans youth and their families’ The supreme court is allowing Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth while lawsuits over the law proceed, reversing lower courts. The justices’ Monday order allows the state to put in a place a 2023 law that subjects physicians to up to 10 years in prison if they provide hormones, puberty blockers or other gender-affirming care to people under age 18. Under the court’s order, the two transgender teens who sued to challenge the law stil ..read more

British PM says he will speak to Netanyahu to express solidarity and discuss how further escalation can be avoided UK general election opinion poll tracker: Labour leading as election looms David Cameron ruled out trying to become PM again in an interview this morning. (See 9.30am.) But Liz Truss has not done so. In an interview with LBC’s Iain Dale, being broadcast tonight, she did not entirely dismiss the possibility. This is from LBC’s Henry Riley. Truss is giving interviews to publicise her memoir which is out this week. According to extracts sent out in advance, she also confirmed in her ..read more

The devastating report questions the ethics of those who put young people on life-altering pathways based on little but professional hunches ‘First, do no harm” is the sacrosanct principle that is supposed to underpin modern medicine. But history is littered with examples of medics breaching this doctrine. Last week, the publication of Hilary Cass’s final report on healthcare for gender-questioning children laid bare the devastating scale of NHS failures of a vulnerable group of children and young people, buoyed by adult activists bullying anyone who dared question a treatment model so clearly ..read more

Clinicians and managers must be held to account for the travesty in which adult beliefs were allowed to drive healthcare for children ‘They deserve very much better,” the distinguished paediatrician Hilary Cass concludes in the final report of her independent review of NHS gender identity services for children and young people. The report details how a vulnerable group has been “exceptionalised” by the NHS and denied the evidence-based healthcare all patients have the right to expect. Just how badly wrong things went at the gender identity development service (Gids) is evidenced in the fa ..read more