RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Monday, April 22, 2024

Good morning ,

The UK Cass report on Transgender care finds a positive review out of the US (see Lead Story below) but apparently Australian doctors, institutions and the feds have "cautioned against applying the findings here, arguing the settings are very different". 

The vice president of AusPATH (the Australian version of WPATH, whose lack of scientific validity and medical ethics have been recently strongly criticised) claims "The Cass review recommendations are at odds with the current evidence base, expert consensus and the majority of clinical guidelines around the world."

This is exactly the kind of head-in-the-sand attitudes Hilary Cass found in the UK, which she has now systematically debunked. 

Seems that yet again, Australia will be 5 years behind...

Lead stories

Read our submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee warning them of right-wing "dominionist" movements seeking to infiltrate major political parties and advance the "Seven Mountains Mandate".

"Hilary Cass is the kind of hero the world needs today. She has entered one of the most toxic debates in our culture: how the medical community should respond to the growing numbers of young people who seek gender transition through medical treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapies. This month, after more than three years of research, Cass, a pediatrician, produced a report, commissioned by the National Health Service in England, that is remarkable for its empathy for people on all sides of this issue, for its humility in the face of complex social trends we don’t understand and for its intellectual integrity as we try to figure out which treatments actually work to serve those patients who are in distress. With incredible courage, she shows that careful scholarship can cut through debates that have been marked by vituperation and intimidation and possibly reset them on more rational grounds."

Letters to the Editor: It takes courage to take on the trans issue

"Great to see Meredith having the courage to engage with this issue. It makes her a target, but she clearly isn’t intimidated."

UK: We must empower secular schools to assert their ethos

A school in the UK refused to capitulate to a Muslim student's claim of religious discrimination .. and the school's policy has been vindicated in the High Court this week. Citing concerns about cohesion between pupils of different backgrounds, the risk of bullying, and the need to uphold Michaela's secular, inclusive ethos, the court sided with the school rather than the student who claimed her religion was being "disrespected".

Anzac Day: Misconceptions and the real meaning of commemoration - Rationale Magazine

"I want to address three apparently common beliefs about Anzac Day which I believe are misconceptions: that Australia was a (or the) major participant at Gallipoli; that Anzac Day commemorates those who died to defend our country; and that Anzac Day is a glorification of war or crude nationalism."

Pope Francis has abandoned transgender Catholics

Just to show how complicated the issue of transsexualism has become (note I use the term transsexualism, not transgenderism), here is a Catholic arguing against his Pope's new document on Human Dignity, which, apparently, "effectively outlaws sex change for transgender Catholics". Anyone out there want to read the actual document and let us know what it actually says?

Got a comment on any of these stories? 

Write to me at president@rationalist.com.au

PS: Please let others know about the RSA and RSA Daily. 

Send them this issue and suggest they subscribe ...

View this email as a webpage