Cass Review deemed 98% of gender-affirming hormone studies too low-quality

TL;DR: After a four-year investigation, the long-awaited review into transgender children’s gender identity services has been revealed to critiques of flawed methodology. The review has links to practitioners of so-called ‘conversion therapy’, and deemed 98% of studies related to gender-affirming care of too low quality to do anything more that inform the synthesis (a summary, based on sources). While some recommendations have been welcomed, there are fears about suggestions to reduce access to current provisions for trans people up to the age of 25. International experts, the LGBTQIA+ sector and trans users of the services have largely decried its methodology and approach.

When the Cass Review was first announced, and even during the four-year process of its being written and interim reports being released, the LGBTQIA+ sector approached it cautiously and optimistically. They hoped it could bring about meaningful progressive change. That all changed on Wednesday when it was released.

Despite advance briefings suggesting a more nuanced approach, it became clear to many that the authors had been captured by gender-critical and patriarchal rhetoric while using what has now widely been decried as flawed methodology, without speaking to trans or non-binary experts or clinicians experienced in…