The Northern Territory government has banned puberty blockers and hormones for minors who claim to be “transgender”, saying children should be protected from “dangerous ideologically driven practices”.
Minister for Health Steve Edgington said on Sunday the decision was consistent with similar approaches taken in Queensland, New Zealand and several Europeans countries, and highlighted cases where children as young as 12 were treated outside clinical guidelines, including without parental consent.
New Zealand banned puberty blockers for new underage patients with “gender dysphoria or incongruence” last month, citing a lack of evidence about their benefits and risks, and Queensland has had a freeze in place since January, which was reinstated in October just hours after being overturned in court.
Mr Edgington said a “handful of young children” had been accessing the drugs, which can have irreversible effects including sterilisation, through the public health system.
“Territory kids deserve to grow up free from these dangerous ideologically driven practices with irreversible consequences,” he said.
“The Territory’s public health focus will remain on adolescent mental health service. The Finocchiaro CLP Government will continue to put the safety and wellbeing of our children first.”
The Australian Christian Lobby applauded the ban, calling it a “brave move to protect children in the NT”.
“It is clear that there is no evidence to support ‘transitioning’ children and that in fact, it is doing great harm,” NT Director Nicholas Lay said.
But a coalition of far-left homosexual groups, including Top End Pride, Equality Australia, Trans Justice Project, Australian Medical Students Association, Pride in Medicine, and the Australian Professional Association for Trans Health, condemned the ban.
Top End Pride Chair Becky Tidman told NT News it would “cause significant psychological harm and unacceptable risks to the health and wellbeing of young Territorians”, while Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown called it “especially cruel”.
The ban comes after Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro banned men who claim to be women from female prisons in October following uproar about “transgender” paedophiles and rapists being jailed alongside women in Victoria and South Australia.
Header image: NT Health staff march in a homosexual parade (NT Health).
