The worst of transgender extremism is far from over

It’s all barking. But the stuff about referring to gender as merely “assigned” at birth is perhaps the barkingest

Since Hillary Cass’s report came out in April, full of damning evidence against the medicalised approach of NHS clinics like the Tavistock towards children suffering from gender confusion, many have said the worst is over. Britain is sane again, they say. We have seen off the worst of the pro-trans movement.
I have not been so sure, and indeed, jubilation does seem a bit hasty. The madness persists, as was made clear last week with news that an NHS hospital – the James Paget University Hospitals Trust in Great Yarmouth – has told people working in obstetrics and midwifery to refer to new babies’ gender as having been “assigned female/male at birth” which it claims “accurately depicts the situation of what happens at birth”. An LGBTQ+ glossary of inclusive terms was helpfully provided, and staff now know not to address any audiences as “ladies and gentlemen” – but rather as “folks”, “everyone” or “honoured guests”. Anything that implies that there are only two genders if of course verboten – so no “opposite sex” either, thank you very much.
It’s all bonkers. Barking. But the stuff about referring to gender as merely “assigned” at birth is perhaps the barkingest. It is newborns that are deemed ripe for offence, or perhaps brainwashing, if their paperwork, on the day of birth, is marked “M” or “F”? Or is it their parents – people who probably came of age in a world where there were indeed just two gender options at birth, to precisely nobody’s consternation?
Mostly, I happen to know, hospitals still make good use of “m” and “f” when a child is born. Their first physicals, at just a few days old, entail examination of genitalia which is then, in most cases, marked “normal female genitalia” or “normal male genitalia”.
Perhaps not in Great Yarmouth, which in introducing this guidance now, is demonstrating timing as amazing as it is concerning. Let’s just hope it isn’t catching.