Penny Mordaunt: It’s vital to look into surge in gender-change girls The Sunday Times 07.07.19

The original article is here.

Equalities minister Penny Mordaunt has commissioned research into a surge in the number of school-age girls seeking to change gender. It will explore the “nature of adolescent gender identity and transitioning”.

Mordaunt ordered the review after figures showing that 2.8 girls are referred for treatment for every boy — a pattern mirrored in other developed countries. The minister said finding out why must be a “priority”.

She said: “It is important we understand the factors behind this while doing everything we can to support these young people and their families.”

Separately, England’s only child gender clinic has released a note from a study into the first 44 youngsters to receive puberty-blocking drugs there.

In early outcomes after the injections started in 2011 at the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) in London, there was “no overall improvement in mood or psychological wellbeing” in the cohort. More than a quarter reported that their mood was worse.

All the children, aged between 12 and 15, wanted to stay on the drugs, according to the presentation by Polly Carmichael, director of Gids. Many went on to receive cross-sex hormone treatment after the age of 16, the next step in changing gender.

Gids said the full findings from the six-year study into the 44 children were being prepared for publication.