Friday 12th April 2024
Media statement:
TACTT is deeply concerned by the final report of the Cass Review, whose core underlying premise is effectively an eliminationist agenda, dressed up in the language of ‘reasonableness’.
We do not accept the manner in which the report’s findings were reached, nor the contention that such findings were reached in good faith. We are appalled by reports that the Cass Review is already being used to justify restrictions to access to private care for under-18s and could potentially restrict access to care for under-25s.
The UK is now considered a hostile country for trans people, especially trans children (Horton, 2024). We fear that this situation will worsen in the aftermath of this review.
TACTT acknowledges that a review of service provision was needed in the light of distressingly long NHS waiting times. Such delays were named as a matter of concern in the prevention of future deaths report issued by the coroner presiding over the December 2023 inquest into the tragic death of Alice Litman.
Pending our forthcoming detailed response, we urge fellow clinicians to be cognisant of the fact that uncritically following the review’s recommendations/findings could invoke a risk of harm.
We reiterate our commitment to a basic accepting and open-minded attitude, and our respect for principles of self-determination and autonomy, as fundamental elements of psychotherapeutic support.
In the interim:
• We note that the Cass report claims to consider wider context, yet excludes mention of recent increases in abusive hate speech, discrimination and violence and sustained legislative, political and media campaigns that threaten the human rights of trans people (as recently noted by a UN Special Rapporteur). Moreover, the final report did not present findings on any potential barriers to accessing care for multiply marginalised young people, who experience racism, classism and other forms of discrimination.
• We express our profound concern at review findings/recommendations that are at variance with current international guidelines.
• We note that despite the report’s claims that a wide range of perspectives including those with lived experience were heard, anti-trans voices and opinions were centred throughout the report whilst often being presented (from the inception of the project) as ‘impartial’.
• We echo expressions of concern from expert individuals and organisations regarding methodological flaws of the report. We note that evidence supporting an anti-trans position was consistently held to a lower burden of proof or research standard than other material. We note that the Cass Review dismissed numerous research studies whose results strengthened the evidence base to support medical treatment for gender incongruence.
• We reject the report’s hunt for ‘causes’ that paves the way for fundamentally pathologising approaches that treat trans people – young and old – as a problem.
We express our support to impacted young people and their families for whom this week has been profoundly traumatic.
We urge clinicians to treat the Cass findings with extreme caution and not to assume that they represent best practice or that they have been arrived at after a full and impartial review of clinical data.
Further information:
email therapistsagainsttransphobia@gmail.com
TACTT
Who we are
Therapists Against Conversion Therapy and Transphobia (TACTT) is a grassroots collective of therapists, counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists and other therapeutic practitioners, incuding trainees in these fields, who oppose conversion therapy and transphobia in the therapy profession.We do not have a formal structure, which allows for individuals within the group to take action. We are UK-based but our members are based all over the world, each doing their bit to take action.
Therapists Against Conversion Therapy and Transphobia 