Formation | 2020 |
---|---|
Founder | Stella O'Malley |
Website | https://www.genspect.org |
In June 2021, Stella O'Malley founded Genspect, an organisation which describes itself as for parents concerned about their children's treatment for gender issues.[1][2][3] Jenn Burleton, Executive Director of TransActive, described Genspect as an anti-trans gender-critical group and said they are ideologically affiliated with TERFism, Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, and the Alliance Defending Freedom.[4] Gay Community News (GCN) of Dublin described genspect as a "an organisation that supports parents who don’t affirm their Transgender children, espousing the pseudoscientific ‘condition’ known as Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD), condemned by WPATH, the American Psychiatric Association and American Psychological Association."[5]
Genspect has supported numerous legal complaints against clinicians and has supported parents in efforts to prevent students socially transitioning at school without full parental support. Genspect intervened in Welsh Valleys School in a case against the school district for using a student's preferred pronouns in school and intervened in a court case in Arizona in defense of the state's Medicaid ban on trans healthcare. Genspect has opposed inclusion of protections for trans people under the UK conversion therapy ban and New Zealand's Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022, argued gender-affirming care for transgender youth is "abusive". Genspect has advised parents against using trans children's chosen names and pronouns, recommended schools ban "tucking" and "binding", and said not to punish misgendering between students. Genspect also "stands in full solidarity" with Our Duty, an organisation which advocates an immediate moratorium on gender-affirming healthcare for anyone under 25 and public funding for it.[6]
Trans Safety Network reported that seven of Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine's (SEGM) eleven clinical advisors are also members of the Genspect team. Namely, O'Malley, Julia Mason, Avi Ring, Sasha Ayad, Roberto D'Angelo, Marcus Evans and Lisa Marchiano. Tehy described SEGM as "an anti-trans psychiatric and sociological think tank" and fringe group and reported that most of SEGM's funding came in donations greater than 10,000 dollars.[7] In an pre-printed report authored by a law professor and six physicians and psychologists who work with trans children and teenagers in response to attempts by legislators in Alabama and Texas to ban gender affirming care for minors, the researchers noted that SEGM, which was cited by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is "biased" and "not a recognized scientific association".[8][9][10]
In March 2022, O'Malley would have appeared at an NHS conference on gender dysphoria at Great Ormond Street Hospital, alongside paediatrician Hilary Cass, journalist Helen Joyce, CEO of Mermaids Susie Green, and academic and Genspect advisor Lisa Littman. The event was cancelled following complaints by NHS whistleblowers, researchers, and trans rights activists, who accused a majority of the speakers as having a "record of extreme prejudice towards trans people".[6] Genspect held a Detrans Awareness Day on March 31, 2022.[11][12]
On June 15, 2022, the New York Times interviewed parents from Genspect who defined the rise in trans-identified children as a "gender cult" and mass craze. The article also referenced a substack newsletter by an anonymous Genspect parent titled "It's Strategy People!" about how the organisation gets its perspective into the media by purposefully not referring to trans children as "mentally ill" or "deluded".[13] The article was criticised in PinkNews for platforming Genspect, described as a "gender-critical" group.[14]
References
- ^ Dixon, Hayley (26 June 2021). "CBBC's trans messaging is damaging children, says mother". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ "Genspect: A voice for parents with gender-questioning kids". Genspect. Archived from the original on 15 October 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ Dixon, Hayley (3 August 2021). "Health Secretary intervenes over NHS guidance on transgender patients in hospitals". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
Stella O'Malley, a psychotherapist who founded Genspect, a parental support group for those concerned about the treatment that their children are receiving for gender issues.
- ^ Rook, Erin (March 8, 2022). "Women's group will hold conference to try to convince trans people to "detransition"". LGBTQ Nation. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
- ^ Ferreyra-Carroll, Lilith (2021-10-21). "A state of collapse: Trans healthcare in Ireland is a national emergency". Gay Community News (Dublin). Retrieved 2022-06-28.
- ^ a b Ferreira, Lou (March 25, 2022). "NHS invited speakers with 'anti-trans' links to trans event". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
- ^ Moore, Mallory. "SEGM uncovered: large anonymous payments funding dodgy science". transsafety.network. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
- ^ Ring, Trudy (2022-05-05). "'Science' Behind Texas/Alabama Anti-Trans Policy Is 'Full of Errors'". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- ^ Boulware, Susan; Kamody, Rebecca; Kuper, Laura; McNamara, Meredithe; Olezeski, Christy; Szilagyi, Nathalie; Alstott, Anne (2022-04-28). "Biased Science: The Texas and Alabama Measures Criminalizing Medical Treatment for Transgender Children and Adolescents Rely on Inaccurate and Misleading Scientific Claims". SSRN. Rochester, NY. doi:10.2139/ssrn.4102374.
- ^ "Faculty from the Yale Law School, the Yale School of Medicine's Child Study Center and Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics Join with Colleagues to Examine the Scientific Claims Underlying Texas's Attempt to Treat Gender-Affirming Care as "Child Abuse"". medicine.yale.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
- ^ Corr, Julieanne (9 April 2022). "Students union boycotts Irish Times over conversion therapy article". The Times. Archived from the original on 10 April 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- ^ Ditum, Sarah (29 January 2022). "The detransitioners: 'The problems I thought I'd solved were all still there'". The Times. Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
- ^ Bazelon, Emily (2022-06-15). "The Battle Over Gender Therapy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
- ^ Baska, Maggie (2022-06-16). "New York Times faces searing backlash for publishing 'harmful' anti-trans 'propaganda'". Pink News. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-19.