Our Letter To UK High Commission - Concerns About The UK Puberty Blockers Trial

We have always opposed the medicalisation of children and young people, particularly where clinical interventions get used to manage distress that often resolves with time, support, and natural development. Children deserve careful, evidence based care - not experimentation driven by an ideology.

As part of a coordinated international action, LGB Alliance Australia has written to the UK High Commission in Canberra to place on the record our concerns about the UK government’s proposed puberty blocker trial for children. We are concerned about the lack of proven benefit, the known and emerging harms, and the likelihood that this trial will influence policy debates well beyond the UK, including in Australia.

We also raised the specific safeguarding risk for lesbian, gay and bisexual young people. A substantial proportion of children referred to gender services report same-sex attraction, and too often ordinary aspects of growing up get reframed as evidence of being “born in the wrong body”. Same-sex attraction is not a disorder, and young people should not be placed on a medical pathway that can lead to long-term harm and lifelong medical dependency.

We urged a more cautious approach that prioritises child welfare, high quality evidence, and protections for same-sex attracted youth.