A gender-critical activist who said she was mistakenly called “transphobic” received a British Empire medal in celebration of the Queen’s birthday.
Stephanie Davis-Arai is the founder and director of Transgender Trend, a parent group that campaigns against the increase in children referred to sexual dysphoria clinics.
The organization was one of several that successfully lobbied Sajid Javid, the health minister, to launch an NHS investigation earlier this year into possible harmful practices in gender clinics.
In response to her award, Ms. Davis-Arai said labeling views as her “fanatics” was “very dangerous.”
She also came out in defense of J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, who has been the subject of intense criticism and occasional abuse by some trans rights activists.
Transgender Trend claims that there is no “scientific basis” for labeling children as transgender and that young people who are sent to gender clinics experience “irreversible lifelong effects” from their treatment.
Instead, he cited figures showing that many trans children first go gay and said that “80 percent of [gender dysphoric] children “grow out of it” and begin to accept and be as happy as the gender in which they were born. “
In 2018, Stonewall, the LGBTQ + charity, said Transgender Trend’s views were “dangerous” for young people and “factually inaccurate.”
“I am knocked out by honor”
On Wednesday, Ms. Davis-Arai said: “I am really honored and excited to be recognized for my work. It is a great honor and I am quite knocked out by this and I am very grateful to everyone who nominated me.
“I hope this shows a change in opinion about the treatment of children with sexual dysphoria and is a recognition of my work, which was wrongly called transphobic or fanatical.
“What I saw was a universal approach to dealing with these children, which risks sending them down a medical path.
“One of my worries was that the alternative was not being talked about. Everyone should be open to debate; it’s healthy. Silencing the debate by calling evidence-based approaches “fanatical or transphobic” is very dangerous.
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