Let’s end 2023 on a hopeful note.
Are we at a turning point with regards to therapy and gender ideology? The American behemoths including the American Psychological Association – ‘APA is committed to infusing the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of the work we do.’ – and the American Medical Association continue to issue politicised guidance and policy (see here). But there are a couple of hopeful signs in the healthcare professional associations in the rest of the Anglophone world (and beyond – note the stand taken by the Italian Psychoanalytic Society). Very recently, the UK Council for Psychotherapy issued an important statement which included the following in relation to gender critical beliefs ‘Psychotherapists and counsellors accredited by UKCP are fully entitled to hold such beliefs and any discrimination against them on this basis, including by UKCP-accredited training organisations, is unlawful.’
And now the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has issued a major position statement acknowledging the plight of de-transitioners and an un-ambiguous statement defining sex as a biological characteristic. Significantly in relation to therapeutic practice, this statement does not endorse gender affirming care as a key intervention for transgender children.
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