Since homo-sexuality - as the name suggests - is a sexuality, one could argue that the WHO developing guidelines for some “gender” or other has nothing to do with lesbians. However, what the WHO means when they talk about “gender diverse” are all the letters in the infamous alphabet chain, except, of course, the T, which is special and needs its own category. The WHO is using the LGB as a vehicle to transport the T into every nook and cranny of our life - including health care. This is pure identity politics. After all, there is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of “trans” or “gender”.

According to the WHO, the T has “health” requirements different from the rest of the population. The LGB is only mentioned to make this “need” more believable and palatable for the taxpayer who is expected to fund expensive, unnecessary and dangerous drugs and procedures for adults and minors.

The way the WHO is shoehorning identity ideology into law and policy by keeping public consultation for these guidelines to a minimum seems straight out of the infamous Thomson Reuters toolbox for activists called "Only adults? Good practices in legal gender recognition for youth"

The time for public consultation was only a few weeks overy the Christmas/New Year period. The proposed panelists (these are the people who will be paid to come up with the guidelines) are all identity ideology-driven activists with huge conflicts of interest. And there are many more reasons why we’re angry.

Here’s what Lesbian Resistance NZ sent to the WHO:

Our comments on the WHO’s development of a “guideline on the health of trans and gender diverse people”

We are angry about the WHO deliberately obfuscating our language

The publicly funded WHO is using the words “gender” and “transgender” as if these were well-defined official categories. However, there can be no official definition of “gender” and “transgender”. We dispute that the category of “gender” applies to the human condition outside of linguistics. By using the words as if they were widely used and recognised, the WHO is actively promoting the ideology-based concept of “transgender”. The WHO is a powerful international organisation. Their use of words acts as an endorsement and forces the words into laws and policies.

We are angry about the WHO’s involvement in the abolition of our sex-based humanity

The WHO’s rhetoric – leaving out sex, only referring to the undefined vague concept of “gender” - is making homosexual people invisible. In fact, by denying people’s sexed reality, the WHO is actively involved in the erasure of lesbians and gay men. The recognition of our sexuality is a human right that is so basic no one ever had to state it. This is true for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and heterosexual people. By not using the words that correctly describe people’s sexuality – homo-sexual, bi-sexual, hetero-sexual – the WHO is abolishing sex in favour of “gender”, thus actively supporting the ideology-based concept of “transgender”.

We are angry that the WHO is promoting the falsehood of “assigned” sex at birth

The WHO knows full well that sex is observed at birth. No one assigns it.

We are angry that the WHO actively denies scientific knowledge

The WHO bases its proposed health guidelines on patients’ (many of whom are minors) unverifiable, unfalsifiable, self-declared inner feeling of “gender identity” and being “born in the wrong body”. The WHO knows full well that our species is binary and that no one is born into any body but their own. There is no other sex beside male and female. What the WHO calls “transgender people” are in fact either children who feel uncomfortable in their sexed bodies or adults who want to obtain/buy an artificial sex. The WHO knows that it is not possible for humans to change sex. We acknowledge there are people who can be severely impacted by distress about their sexed bodies. For this psychological problem adequate guidelines should be developed and psychological care should be available.

We are angry that the WHO considers the “affirmation model” as a safe and viable treatment path – indeed the only treatment path - for children who are confused about their sexed bodies

Children who don’t conform to sex stereotypes should not be “affirmed” in their erroneous belief that they can choose their sex. The “affirmation model” just confirms the child’s confusion and puts him or her on a path of taking powerful and harmful drugs called “puberty blockers”, wrong-sex hormones for life, and even mutilating surgeries. By pushing the “affirmation model”, the WHO is actively promoting the deception and abuse of children. There is no such person as a “trans child”. Destroying the mental and physical integrity of even only one girl confused about or ashamed of her sex, denying her the opportunity to grow up as a physically healthy lesbian, is profound child abuse.

We are angry about the WHO’s corrupt panel composition

The panel supposed to work on the guidelines has a clear ideological bias. We got the list from the WHO website. Most of the proposed panelists have blatant biases in their job description:

    • DEI Adviser

    • Trans and feminist activist

    • Chairperson of the Sexuality and Gender Division

    • Senior Policy Officer at ILGA-Europe, working on policy and advocacy relating to trans, intersex, health, conversion practice, data collection and the anti-gender movement in Europe and Central Asia.

    • Founding member and current secretary of the Professional Association for Transgender Health South Africa (PATHSA), and a co-author of the SAHCS Gender Affirming Guideline for South Africa. Writes PhD in Health Science Education with the topic "How can the process of professional identity formation of a gender-affirming practitioner inform medical curriculum change?"

    • Transwoman living with HIV, Director of Programs and is currently the Executive Director of GATE, Global Action for Trans Equality.

    • International human rights lawyer specialised in sexual and reproductive health and human rights; human rights, legal and policy aspects of gender expression, gender and bodily diversity. Former board member of GATE, Global Action for Trans Equality.

    • Established the Tangerine Community Health Clinic as the first transgender-led health clinic in the region. Provides technical guidance for the development and implementation of HIV research and programs for transgenderpeople and other key populations in Thailand and in Asia.

    • Founding Director and CEO of the "Association for Transgender Health in India (ATHI)”

    • ACON's Director of LGBTQ+ Community Health, overseeing client services and LGBTQ+ health, equity, and harm reduction programs.

    • Research Scientist with the New York State Psychiatric Institute, leading the Area of Gender, Sexuality, and Health. His research interests include identity development across the lifespan, transgender health, LGBTQ+ ageing, and the neuroscience of gender.

    • Empowered transgenderwoman working in advocacy since 2015 and continuously pushing for the inclusivity and accessibility of sexual, reproductive, and transgender health care for the Transgender community in the Philippines

    • Trans and queer feminist, co-founded Qorras, a group producing queer feminist knowledge

    • Founder and Executive Director of Tranz Network Uganda, consulting on Gender and Sexual Diversity

    • Gender adviser for the Minister of Health of Mozambique

    • Member of consensus committees on transgender and gender diverse health, co-author of the WPATH Standards of Care Versions 7 and 8, Co-Chair of WPATH’s Global Education Institute and is a former President of WPATH and the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health (CPATH).

    • Spearheaded the agenda of Transgender Health in India beyond HIV/AIDS in collaboration with various stakeholders and key line Ministries including development of a “White Paper on Comprehensive Health related Services for Transgender Health”

    • Trans health specialist at the Nottingham Centre of Transgender Health in Nottingham, United Kingdom since 2007. His clinical practice involves prescribing, dosing and monitoring of gender affirming hormone treatment, providing referrals for gender affirming surgeries and other gender affirming medical interventions (hair removal, speech and language therapy) and providing psychological support for transpeople. Former WPATH president.

The bios show the proposed panelists’ presupposition of “gender” and “trans” as human characteristics. There is not a single person on this list who would allow a critical view of these ideologically driven concepts. Conspicuously absent are representatives of the growing number of detransitioner groups, groups of lesbians and gay men who are not part of the ever-growing alphabet chain, groups of concerned health care professionals, psychologists, and therapists.

We are angry about the WHO’s sneaky timing

The time for public consultation was three weeks over the Christmas and New Years holidays. Also, even after allowing a few extra days until 2nd February 2024, the process of reviewing and evaluating the evidence is unduly short (until 19th Feb 24). Balanced, profound, evidence-based guidelines with global impact cannot be produced in a fortnight.