Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender
CAN-SG has serious concerns about the draft Conversion Practices Bill. A parliamentary committee is scrutinising the Bill, and it wants to hear from people the bill would affect. The deadline for submissions is 16th November 2026 at 5pm. Sex Matters has a useful guide for submitting evidence. Our concern is that the Bill is so […]
Dr. Jane Martin discusses the UK government’s promise to issue guidance for teachers on supporting children dealing with gender identity issues. She explains the complex issue of “social transition”, which is increasingly prevalent in children today. This shift can lead to more invasive and irreversible medical decisions later on. She criticizes educational materials endorsing gender ideology, stating they capitalize on the younger children’s suggestibility and difficulty discerning reality from fantasy. She highlights concerns about the potential for social pressure and suggests the process of persuasion towards social transition amounts to grooming and child exploitation.
James Esses, trainee psychotherapist, had taken UKCP to court for discrimination against him for expressing gender critical beliefs which led to him being expelled from his psychotherapy training course. (You can get more information about his case here.) Today Esses announced he had reached a settlement with UKCP and, although he was not able to reveal […]
The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy has recognised therapists with ‘gender critical’ views, who aim to help clients resolve their gender related distress psychologically rather than through invasive medical treatments. They acknowledge these views are protected by law. Amid major shifts towards ‘gender critical’ therapeutic approaches for children and young adults with gender dysphoria, a proposed bill banning ‘conversion therapy’ raises concerns of criminalising these ‘exploratory therapies’. Critics claim the bill would leave gender affirmative therapy as the sole legal option, despite its potential physical and mental health risks, and could discourage therapists from treating individuals with gender dysphoria.
Following recent case law, and the publication of the interim Cass Review report, the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is today issuing a statement on the law regarding gender-critical views and its implications for the practice of psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling. This statement is also being made to highlight the fact that exploratory therapy must not be […]
This paper by Professor David Pilgrim, Department of Psychology at University of Southampton, is a timely examination of the history of two distinct current clinical positions, that could help us understand and contextualise concerns about legislation to include gender identity in a ban on “conversion therapy”. The first is from those advocating an ‘affirmative approach’ […]
GLADD is the UK’s association of LGBTQ+ doctors, dentists, medical and dental students. All medical schools throughout the UK have been sent a copy of GLADD’s charter relating to the so called ‘conversion therapy ban’. It was co-authored with Lancaster University, and the document has been endorsed by Dr Michael Brady, national LGBT Advisor at […]