JK Rowling: Gender-transitioning minors is 'medical scandal' about to 'erupt'
Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling is continuing to speak to gender identity issues, stating that the experimental practices related to gender-transitioning constitute a medical scandal that is likely to erupt soon.
In a series of tweets Saturday, the beloved children's author weighed in again on transgender issues, linking to a Cambridge Core journal article scrutinizing psychiatric treatments and medical interventions pertaining to gender transition, which likened them to what is known as "conversion therapy."
"It feels as though we’re on the brink of a medical scandal," Rowling said.
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"Since speaking up about gender identity theory, I’ve received thousands of emails – more than I’ve ever had on a single subject. Many have come from professionals working in medicine, education and social work. All are concerned about the effects on vulnerable young people."
Citing a letter two whistleblowers from the London-based Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service wrote outlining their concerns about troubling internal clinical practices, the author continued that the "bleak truth is that if and when the scandal does erupt, nobody currently cheering this movement on will be able to credibly claim ‘we couldn’t have known.’"
Her latest words come on the heels of growing scrutiny of the controversial practices in the United Kingdom. U.K. Trade Minister Liz Truss announced earlier this year that restrictions on the medical practices would soon be established. Last month, the National Health Service removed its previous claim that the experimental drugs prescribed to transgender-identifying youth are "fully reversible." The updated guidance now says the effects of such short-term and long-term effects of such drugs are unknown.
“Grown adults should be able to make decisions, to have agency to live life as they see fit,” Truss said in April.
“But before the age of 18, when people are still developing their decision-making capabilities, they should be protected from making decisions that are irreversible about their bodies that they could possibly regret in the future.”
In June, Rowling published a lengthy essay where she articulated her concerns about how transgender ideology undermines and threatens women and their rights. In response to her commentary on this issue, Rowling has been pilloried by transgender activists and "Harry Potter" film stars Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe.
Earlier this month, Rowling explained in a separate Twitter thread that she considers modern gender-transitioning to be a form of gay conversion therapy, noting that the procedures yield infertility and loss of full sexual function and that a recent BBC documentary investigated the Tavistock center where concerned clinicians spoke about how gender-transitions were being fueled in part by homophobic parents.
"The long-term health risks of cross-sex hormones have now been tracked over a lengthy period. These side-effects are often minimized or denied by trans activists," Rowling said, highlighting a February 2019 News-Medical.net article about an American Heart Association study on hormone use that revealed an elevated risk of cardiac problems such as heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots.
The Tavistock clinic is presently facing a lawsuit in which detransitioner (a formerly trans-identified person) Keira Bell is a claimant. The suit alleges that gender-confused youth were being rushed into hormonal and surgical transitions without an adequate explanation of the permanent effects on their bodies.
