Tavistock gender identity clinic is closing: what happens next?
When the Gender Identity Development Service for Children and Adolescents (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust in London was established in 1983, it was a different era in terms of the medical understanding of gender dysphoria and the cultural debate around appropriate treatments for transgender young people.
The demand for the service was unrecognisable for what it is today: in the past decade alone, the number of referrals to the GIDS went from 138 in 2010-11 to 2,383 in 2020-21.
The announcement on Thursday that the NHS is winding down the service has been celebrated by many vocal – mainly gender-critical – critics. The GIDS has faced relentless scrutiny in recent years, with a number of former staff going public to raise concerns about the “overdiagnosing” of gender dysphoria, the consequences of early medical interventions and the significant increase in referrals of girls questioning their gender identity – which is a trend reflected across Europe and globally.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/28/tavistock-gender-identity-clinic-is-closing-what-happens-next