Over twenty transgender advocacy groups have expressed serious concerns to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in a joint letter about a conference there featuring notorious anti-trans speakers. The conference on Thursday, June 27, is taking place under the auspices of the Amsterdam Center for Family Law, founded by Vrije Universiteit. Some keynote speakers have ties to hate-mongering anti-transgender organizations, which are being given a broad platform at this conference – without critical rebuttal. 'Dangerous!' warn the advocacy groups, 'because misinformation is not without consequences.'
At the top of the program is British keynote speaker Hilary Cass. In April 2024, she launched an attack on British transgender healthcare for young people with the publication of the controversial Cass Review. Cass claimed that care for transgender youth was not scientifically substantiated. However, her report immediately received widespread international criticism. According to experts in the field, she had selectively shopped from scientific studies, ignored positive evidence, and drawn far-reaching conclusions that could not be derived from the available data.(1) In short, the report did not hold up scientifically. Nevertheless, the British government used this highly controversial report to halt transgender care for young people in Great Britain. Warnings from medical professionals and advocacy groups that young people would suffer severely due to the lack of care were ignored.
Other speakers at the conference are also highly controversial. Finnish psychiatrist Riittakerttu Kaltiala is involved with organizations such as SEGM and Genspect, which aim to restrict transgender care. Both organizations are not recognized by the international medical community due to a lack of scientific evidence for their claims.(2) Several authoritative bodies, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, consider both organizations to be hate groups.(3) It has become known that these groups also influenced the Cass report. Swedish psychiatrist and well-known anti-transgender activist Mikael Landén also has ties to SEGM.
These controversial speakers do not need to worry about a critical reception, as the packed daily program includes barely half an hour of debate. The other speakers of the day also consist of Dutch individuals who almost all want to further restrict transgender care for young people. This is despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that this care is, in fact, exceptionally successful.(4) It is generally known among professionals that restricting transgender care for young people causes great suffering and can even lead to suicide. 'Everything indicates that this conference is not a platform for neutral scientific dialogue, but offers a very one-sided stage for misinformation and a sham dialogue,' warn the advocacy groups.
The more than twenty organizations have urgently asked Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam to discuss their concerns. They hope that the conference on June 27 will not proceed, and that the Executive Board will prevent uncritical space from being offered to speakers who spread misinformation and discriminatory rhetoric in future programming. The advocacy groups emphasize that they welcome dialogue about transgender care, but it must be based on facts and conducted together with the transgender community. National advocacy organization Transgender Netwerk is also very concerned about the approach of this conference, and especially the invited foreign speakers. Trans Zorg Nu has announced a demonstration.
Principle 17
Trans in Eigen Hand
Trans Zorg Nu
B.u.t.t.e.r.f.l.y.
Colored Qollective
Colored Qollective team, Trans Kliniek Utrecht
LHBT Nissewaard
Mentalspace
OUT Academia
PraxisDIY
Queer Leiden University
Region Federation Voorne-Putten
Stichting Transman
The Hang-Out 070
Trans Healthcare Network
Trans Radical Resource Exchange
Trans Radical Resource Exchange Nijmegen
Trans Utrecht & Beyond
Trans United Europe – BIPOC Transnetwork
Transfem Haarlem
Transgendergroep Nijmegen
Transistor
Treat it Queer
(1) Dr Ruth Pearce, What’s wrong with the Cass Review? A round-up of commentary and evidence, June 14, 2024
Chris Noone, Alex Southgate, Alex Ashman, Éle Quinn, David Comer, Duncan Shrewsbury, Florence Ashley, Jo Hartland, Joanna Pashdag, John Gilmore, Natacha Kennedy, Thomas Woolley, Rachel Ann Heath, Ryan Goulding, Victoria Simpson, Ed Kiely, Sibéal Coll, Margaret White, Dori Grijseels, Maxence Ouafik, and Quinnehtukqut McLamore, Critically appraising the Cass Report: Methodological flaws and unsupported claims, June 11, 2024
C.M. Grijseels, Biological and psychosocial evidence in the Cass Review: a critical commentary, June 8, 2024
Dori Grijseels, Report on Transgender Care is Severely Substandard, May 1, 2024
Transgender Netwerk Nederland, Why Dutch Transgender Care Will Not Improve Because of the Cass Report, April 30, 2024
TransActual, The Cass Review is bad science and should not be taken seriously by policymakers, April 11, 2024 – or this link
(2) Trudy Ring, ‘Science’ Behind Texas/Alabama Anti-Trans Policy Is ‘Full of Errorss’, May 5, 2024
(3) Mira Lazine, Anti-trans organizations Genspect & SEGM are now listed as hate groups by the SPLC, June 6, 2024
Erin Reed, SPLC Designates Genspect, SEGM As Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups, June 5, 2024
(4) Madelyn Beck, Health experts: Gender-affirming care saves lives, February 2, 2023
Diane Chen, Ph.D. Johnny Berona, Ph.D., Yee-Ming Chan, M.D., Ph.D. Diane Ehrensaft, Ph.D., Robert Garofalo, M.D., M.P.H., Marco A. Hidalgo, Ph.D., Stephen M. Rosenthal, M.D., Amy C. Tishelman, Ph.D., and Johanna Olson-Kennedy, M.D., Psychosocial Functioning in Transgender Youth after 2 Years of Hormones, January 18, 2023
Annelou L.C. de Vries, M.D., Ph.D., and Sabine E. Hannema, M.D., Ph.D., Growing Evidence and Remaining Questions in Adolescent Transgender Care, January 18, 2023
A.J. Eckert, Gender-affirming care is not “experimental”, June 25, 2022
Kristina R. Olson, Lily Durwood, Rachel Horton, Natalie M. Gallagher and Aaron Devor, Gender Identity 5 Years After Social Transition, 2022