A gender critical conference on the risks of medicalising children with gender dysphoria in central London has been disrupted after trans activists reportedly threw a smoke bomb and tried to storm the event, with Met police officers rushing to the scene to prevent further disorder.
As reported by the Telegraph, conference attendees were ambushed by aggressive masked protesters, dressed mainly in black, who had to be held back by dozens of police officers.
The ‘First Do No Harm’ conference was organised by the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender (CAN-SG), and took place in Euston on Saturday.
According to CAN-SG’s website, the conference aims to discuss current controversies in the care of children and young adolescents with gender dysphoria, and speakers at the event include GPs, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and academics from a range of disciplines.
CAN-SG itself is a coalition of healthcare professionals who campaign for “improved treatment options for gender dysphoria” who believe that prescribing hormone blockers for gender dysphoria should be “scientifically scrutinised” because there is “currently no robust evidence that they improve long-term outcomes” and they almost invariably set young people on a course of lifetime medicalisation with high personal, physical and social costs.
Speakers at the conference included Sonia Appleby, the former safeguarding lead at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, whose transgender clinic was ordered to be shut down after a review found it was “not safe” for children. Under an ‘affirmative’ approach to gender dysphoria, puberty blockers were given to children as young as 12 at the clinic.
Much to the chagrin of trans activists, the NHS announced earlier this month that children will be banned from receiving puberty blockers on prescription under rules that came into effect immediately. Critics had long argued that in prescribing puberty blockers to under-16 year-olds, the Tavistock Gender Clinic had been “rushing” children into irreversible, “life-altering” medical procedures without proper consultation, and, as Prof Kathleen Stock puts it, “handing out harmful drugs to gender-confused youth as if they were sweets”.
Videos posted on social media show trans activists clad in black and waving Pride flags and brandishing banners with messages including “Trans Power” and “Trans Rage”, clashing with police outside and trying to break into the venue, while blocking the entrance.
Jane Symons, vice-chair of the Medical Journalists’ Association, said: “It’s the first time I have ever attended a medical conference requiring police protection. Healthcare should be driven by evidence not ideology.”
Feminist campaigner and author Julie Bindel wrote on X: “Protesters at the First Do No Harm conference, CAN-SG. Police failed to act, as per bloody usual, but have just now made three arrests.”
Baroness Claire Fox posted: “First instinct of Trans Rights mob at a conference entitled First Do No Harm, is: DO HARM. Targets: 1) medical practitioners, who want to do their job based on evidence 2) security guards just trying to do their job at all. Danger: scenes of such intimidation may succeed in putting off other venues from hosting any events challenging gender ideology. But no-one should give in to such vile bullying.”
“The people in this video are protesting a conference at which clinicians and others are talking about the evidence in relation to healthcare for gender questioning children,” Observer columnist Sonia Sodha wrote. “In trying to prevent the conference from happening, they’re acting contrary to their best interests.”
A statement from the Metropolitan Police read: “At 9.45 a group attempted to gain access to an event in Euston Square – they were prevented from doing so by police.
“The event has proceeded without disruption. A smoke flare was set off in the crowd in Euston Square. No reported injuries or damage.”
News that trans activists have unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the event from going ahead on the day comes after pressure was previously put on the Euston Square venue to pre-emptively cancel the event, on the basis that CAN-SG “invalidate [and] dehumanise lived experiences of trans/binary” people.
CAN-SG had long planned to host the conference from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) conference centre in Euston Square, which is run by an independent events company.
However, on Friday 8th February, the RCGP announced that it was “aware of a situation” relating to the conference booking, and was “in discussion” with the events company who manage the venue.
The “situation” was that campaign groups including ‘Pride RCGP’ and the Association of LGBTQ+ Doctors & Dentists had begun criticising what it described as RCGP’s “accidental endorsement” of the event.
In a post on X, Dr Richard Ma, a GP and member of Pride RCGP, said: “LGBTQ+ patients already feel unsafe and have difficult relationships with NHS when accessing care due to perceived discrimination. This event would worsen the already little trust the LGBTQ community has with general practice. It is also hurtful to know this would undo years of work Pride RCGP have done to build relationships between LGBTQ community and general practice and improve their care.”
A group calling itself "Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender" is holding a "conference" in the same building as @rcgp headquarters. A group of us at #PrideRCGP
— Richard Ma PhD 馬富文are asking the College to pull the meeting, and here are the reasons why.
(@Richard_GP) February 11, 2024
Dr Ma continued: “While we believe we need honest and respectful discussions to improve care of gender-questioning young people, we should not have to share a platform with people who invalidate or dehumanise lived experiences of trans/non-binary peers/patients. Our community does not feel safe.”
The Trans Safety Network, which records evidence of ‘transphobia’ in the UK, said: “It is scandalous that the RCGP should be hosting this event organised by hate groups posing as a scientific conference.”
As reported by the Telegraph, the college’s events management team, Searcys, subsequently wrote to CAN-SG to inform it that its event had been cancelled.
Dr Louise Irvine, the co-chairman of CAN-SG, said: “I asked why the event was cancelled and the manager said he did not know. He just said that senior people in RCGP had been discussing it all day and then instructed him to contact me to cancel.
“I found out later that on that Friday, there was a well-orchestrated campaign by activists to send numerous emails to RCGP full of false allegations about our conference.”
A few days later, however, the RCGP was forced into an about-turn. In a statement it said that following “intense and wide-ranging discussions” about “an extremely complex situation” it had decided that the conference could go ahead.
The RCGP went on to say that it was not involved in organising the conference, did not endorse its contents, and that as soon as it became aware that marketing and publicity material “might give a different impression”, it asked the organisers “to remove all references to the RCGP’s name”.
“We understand the concerns and strength of feeling that this event has provoked, particularly among our LGBTQ+ community of GPs and patients,” the statement reassured its Pride RCGP affiliated members, before adding: “Legal considerations are such that the College would be at risk of being faced with a claim for breaching the Equality Act if we acted otherwise.”
