(LifeSiteNews) — Court papers revealed that the notorious Tavistock gender clinic has approved a 22-year-old with 14 mental health conditions who cannot read or write for a sex-change surgery. The UK NHS clinic, which has been a source of scandal for years, approved the young woman — described in court documents as “Al” to protect her identity — for surgery despite the fact that she had a troubled childhood with a drug addict mother who was the victim of domestic abuse, was cared for by her disabled grandmother, and ended up in the care system as a teen.
According to the court documents — which identify Al as male — Al was referred to Tavistock at age 14:
He has a total of 14 diagnoses and continues to have complex needs. His difficulties have been medically described as Mild Mental Retardation, Attachment Disorder, Emotion Dysregulation, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder, dyslexia, severe anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and low self-esteem. In 2021, he was diagnosed with disturbance of activity and attention, minimal impairment of behaviour and reactive attachment disorder of childhood.
The fact that this young woman has been approved for surgery has only come to light because she sued Wandsworth Council in the High Court for failing to address the special educational needs of young people who identify as transgender, arguing that “misgendering” contributed to the failure of her education. Al’s schooling was consistently interrupted by the tragic circumstances of her childhood. Judge Mrs. Justice Foster ultimately ruled that the Council had not neglected Al’s education, and that “The circumstances of his [sic] early life are significantly distressing and can only provoke profound sympathy.”
The response to the news that a young disabled woman who cannot read or write has been approved for a sex change by a clinic that was slated for closure last year after reports showed that Tavistock had been rushing young people into transition was fury. Conservative peer Lord Goldsmith called out the medical staff at Tavistock and the Portman NHS Foundation Trust on social media.
“This person has been diagnosed with 14 mental health disorders,” he wrote. “The response from these ghouls is to chop up her body and fill her with hormones. How is this different to lobotomies? These professionals are utterly barbaric and need locking up.”
Helen Joyce, an Irish journalist and author of the best=selling “gender-critical” book Trans, also referred to past medical scandals. “The last time I know of people with learning disabilities being approved for state-sponsored sterilisation was under Sweden’s eugenics programme,” she tweeted. “It’s now regarded as a major human-rights abuse.” Jordan Peterson’s reaction was more succinct: “14 [mental health conditions]? That’s not enough! Sincerely, The Butchers and liars.” Or as Australian feminist Edie Wyatt noted: “The medical violence of the gender Borg will always target the most vulnerable.”
It is precisely cases like this that led experts to recommend that Tavistock be closed in the first place. It is clear they haven’t learned from their past mistakes — and it is important to remember here that the mistakes being made include doing permanent physical and often cognitive damage to young people. This young woman may be able to have her other issues addressed over time, but a double mastectomy is permanent. Taking flesh from her arm to create a neo-phallus is permanent. Sex-change surgeries do not address a medical condition — they create a lifelong medical patient with a mounting list of complications and issues that will have to be dealt with.
This young woman was not approved for these surgeries so much as she was given a life sentence. She doesn’t know better. Those treating her should.
