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WORLD NEWS Thursday 11 april 2024
A major UK report says trans children are being let down by toxic

debate and lack of evidence

By JILL LAWLESS people under 18.
Associated Press Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
LONDON (AP) — Children welcomed the review’s
who question their gen- recommendation of cau-
der identity are being let tion.
down by lack of evidence “We simply do not know
and a toxic political de- the long-term impacts of
bate, according to a report medical treatment or so-
Wednesday from a senior cial transitioning on them,
doctor in England. and we should therefore
Dr. Hilary Cass said there exercise extreme caution,”
is “no good evidence on he said.
the long-term outcomes Critics accuse Sunak’s Con-
of interventions to man- servative government of
age gender-related dis- weaponizing the issue of
tress,” and young people gender identity as part of
have been caught up in a “culture war” electoral
a “stormy social discourse” strategy.
about the issue. The government recently is-
“Ideology on all sides has sued guidelines for schools
directed care, rather than that said teachers should
care being directed by not be required to address
normal principles of pedi- children by their preferred
atrics and mental health,” The rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community, flies over a building next to Nelson’s Column pronouns.
said Cass, a retired clinical monument, right, in Trafalgar Square, central London, Britain, March 28, 2014. In her report, Cass said
pediatrician appointed to Associated Press there was “no clear evi-
lead a review of gender evidence about the po- United States. Transgender gender-related issues. dence” that social transi-
services for young people tential benefits and harms medical care for minors Cass said young people tion in childhood such as
by the state-funded Na- of the blockers, which help is endorsed by major U.S. questioning their gender changing names or pro-
tional Health Service. prevent people from de- medical associations, but identity should be given “a nouns has any positive or
On April 1 doctors in Eng- veloping physical features several Republican-led holistic assessment” includ- negative mental health
land’s public health system not in line with their gender states have banned puber- ing screening for neuro- outcomes.
stopped prescribing puber- identity, such as beards or ty blockers and other treat- developmental conditions The report also conclud-

ty-blocking hormones to breasts. ment for transgender youth such as autism, and a men- ed that there is no simple
children and young people The decision which is not and, in some cases, adults. tal health assessment. explanation for why the
with gender dysphoria. The an outright ban on pu- Cass’ report, which runs to She urged “extreme cau- number of young people
decision came after rec- berty blockers was criti- almost 400 pages, said that tion” about giving children identifying as transgen-
ommendations in Cass’ cized by some transgender “for most young people, a or teens masculizing or der has shot up in recent
earlier interim report, which campaigners and is be- medical pathway” is not feminizing hormones tes- years in the U.K. and other
said there is not enough ing closely watched in the the best way to deal with tosterone or estrogen to countries.q

Italy opens new slander trial against Amanda Knox.

She was exonerated 9 years ago in friend’s murder

By COLLEEN BARRY owner of a bar where she appeals, has remained a
Associated Press worked part-time of killing legal stain against her, es-
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — the 21-year-old British stu- pecially in Italy, as she pur-
Amanda Knox was back dent. sues a new life in the United
on trial for slander Wednes- In 2016, the European Court States campaigning for ju-
day for wrongly accusing of Human Rights ruled that dicial reform.
a Congolese man of mur- the interrogation violated Another man was convict-
dering her roommate while her rights because she was ed in Kercher’s 2007 mur-
the young women were questioned without a law- der.
exchange students in Italy. yer or official translator. Knox, now 36, did not ap-
Knox herself was convicted In November, Italy’s high- pear in Wednesday’s hear-
of the slaying before being est Cassation Court threw ing in Florence, and is be-

exonerated in a case that out the slander conviction ing tried in absentia.
grabbed the global spot- the only remaining guilty She remains in the United
light. verdict against Knox after States, where she cam-
Knox was a 20-year-old the same court definitively paigns for social justice and
student with rudimentary threw out convictions for has a variety of media proj-
Italian who had recently ar- Kercher’s murder against ects including a podcast Amanda Knox speaks at a Criminal Justice Festival at the
rived in Perugia, when she Knox and her Italian ex- and a limited series on her University of Modena, Italy, on June 15, 2019.
endured a long night of boyfriend, Raffaele Solle- case in development with Associated Press
questioning in the murder cito, nine years ago. Hulu. ba appeared in statements been ruled inadmissible in
of Meredith Kercher. She That conviction, which en- Knox’s accusation against typed by police that she the new trial by Italy’s high-
ended up accusing the dured multiple trials and bar owner Patrick Lumum- signed, but which have est court.q