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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 18 hours

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By: Colin Wright

Published: May 31, 2024

In April, Dr Hilary Cass, a former president of Britain’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, published the most comprehensive scientific analysis of paediatric sex-trait modification procedures to date. These procedures, often described as components of “gender-affirming care” (GAC), serve to align a child’s physical features with his or her claimed “gender identity” through (typically irreversible) hormone regimes and surgeries, which often lead to sterility and other serious medical side effects. The Cass Review, as it is commonly known, reported that the evidence base supporting the use of such procedures was “remarkably weak.” Moreover, while it’s been widely claimed that hormone treatments reduce the elevated risk of death by suicide among trans-identified children, Dr Cass found that the available evidence “did not support this conclusion.”

The response to Dr Cass’s findings has been dramatic. England’s National Health Service, which commissioned the report, expressed gratitude to Dr Cass and committed to implementing her recommendations. These include prioritising psychotherapy for gender-distressed youth, and phasing out the use of puberty blockers as part of England’s publicly funded healthcare system. Following the publication of the Cass Review, Scotland and Wales joined numerous other European jurisdictions—many of which have conducted their own reviews, and reached similar conclusions—in restricting the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to treat minors. Several international bodies have also issued policy statements praising the Cass Review for its thoroughness and lack of bias.

However, while these international authorities are reforming their policies in accordance with the latest scientific evidence, medical organisations in North America have generally remained steadfast in their support of GAC. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society, for instance, both recently issued statements defending their support of GAC practices as “grounded in evidence and science,” and “based on a thorough review of medical evidence, author expertise, rigorous scientific review, and a transparent process.”

Despite these assertions, however, no major medical organisation or scientific publication has (to my knowledge) published a detailed rebuttal of the findings contained in the Cass Review. The only ostensible exception is an article from the International Journal of Transgender Health‚ the official journal of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), whose author, Cal Horton, is a self-described “researcher & intersectional feminist… upholding a defiantly non-binary reality (they/them),” as well as a “specialis[t] in trans inclusion and Applied Trans Studies.” By means of what is grandly presented as a qualitative “inductive and deductive reflexive thematic analysis,” the author denounces the Cass Review as “an example of cis-supremacy, within a cis-dominant healthcare system lacking accountability to trans communities.” Interpret that as you will.

As the global trend shifts away from “gender-affirming care,” one might expect that proponents of GAC would be eager to publicly defend their practices, and to set out the facts and arguments that, as they see it, Dr Cass and her many international counterparts have ignored or misinterpreted. Specifically, one might imagine that they’d revisit the policy of “no debate” that has long been enforced within the trans activist community (typically on the stated grounds that the very act of debate would serve to invalidate, or even threaten, the existence of transgender individuals).

And yet, this hasn’t happened. Just the opposite: It appears that the definitive nature of Dr Cass’s report has caused defenders of GAC to become even more skittish about publicly defending their practices.

Last week on X (formerly known as Twitter), South Carolina-based doctor Michael O’Brien dismissed the Cass Review as a “sham.” As a paediatrician and outspoken advocate of GAC who’s made a name for himself on X by aggressively criticising anyone expressing divergent views, he may be fairly described as an influential American voice when it comes to treating gender-distressed youth—and therefore a worthy candidate for inclusion in any debate on the subject.

Following Dr. O’Brien’s outburst, I joined with my Manhattan Institute colleague Dr Leor Sapir, a gender-medicine expert, in inviting Dr O’Brien to participate in a good-faith scientific exchange on my Substack, Reality’s Last Stand, which provides regular editorial coverage of the issues Dr Cass examined. We offered to donate $250 to a children’s hospital of Dr O’Brien’s choice if he agreed to participate in the discussion. Our hope was that he would elaborate on his claim that Dr Cass had produced a “sham,” complete with data and scientific citations.

Dr O’Brien responded as follows: “I help kids and families with shared, evidence-based, complex medical decisions. [Dr Sapir is] a non-expert corporate pawn looking to make a quick buck. My answer is: f*** no.” He then blocked us both from seeing any of his future posts, and continued to justify his refusal to engage in the discussion on the grounds that it would somehow benefit us financially. (Since this time, Dr O’Brien has switched his X account to protected mode.)

This effort at deflection is nonsensical for several reasons. Firstly, as noted above, Dr Sapir and I had each pledged $250 of our own money to a children’s hospital in return for his participation. Secondly, I promised that the written debate would not be published behind a paywall, so as to ensure it received the largest possible audience without providing me with any direct financial benefit. I also indicated that I would donate any incidental revenue from new Substack subscriptions, as well as donations related to the debate, to the children’s hospital of Dr O’Brien’s choice.

As our public exchange garnered attention, other X users started making their own financial pledges to encourage scientific debate on this issue. Dr Eithan Haim, a Dallas-based surgeon, pledged $500, for instance. Dr Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester (and Quillette author), pledged £100.

As I saw this as an important opportunity to open up a dialogue on this subject, in defiance of trans activists’ oddly dogmatic “no debate” policy, I even started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the children’s hospital of Dr O’Brien’s choosing. The stated condition was clear, however: Dr O’Brien would provide a detailed critique of the Cass Review, outlining his reasons for dismissing it as “a sham at best,” and engage with at least one rebuttal from Dr Sapir.

Launched on 23 May, the GoFundMe campaign attracted more than $5,000 in pledges in just two hours. By the morning of the 24th, contributions had exceeded $10,000. That evening, a surprise $5,000 donation from J.K. Rowling, coupled with her encouragement to others to contribute, propelled the total beyond $20,000. On 29 May, we reached our goal of $30,000.

That’s over $30,000 to a children’s hospital of Dr O’Brien’s choice if this paediatrician agrees to engage in a scientific discussion about the Cass Review and GAC—a discussion that one might expect Dr O’Brien to regard as an urgent imperative given his fervent advocacy of GAC, his (presumably informed) opinion that the Cass Review is “a sham,” and his (presumed) fear that “trans kids” (as he describes them) are at mortal risk of being denied GAC on the basis of Dr Hilary Cass’s views. Assuming Dr O’Brien is able to debunk the Cass Review (in keeping with his sweeping denunciation of its validity), what would be the downside—for him or anyone else?

Although the fundraiser has garnered significant attention (one presumes he is familiar with Rowling as both an author and advocate), Dr O’Brien has yet to revisit his previously stated refusal to participate. Alas, today I will therefore be forced to refund over $30,000 in donations that would otherwise go to a children’s hospital so that children of all types, including those “trans kids” Dr O’Brien purports to care so deeply about, can receive better medical care. To do otherwise would violate the representations I made as part of the GoFundMe campaign.

However, I strongly encourage donors to consider personally reallocating their contributions to a children’s hospital of their choice—or to one of several organisations working diligently to inform doctors, parents, and policymakers about the risks associated with GAC. Among the organisations leading these efforts are the LGBT Courage Coalition, the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, Genspect, Do No Harm, and Therapy First.

I believe that all children and adolescents, gender-distressed or otherwise, deserve evidence-based care. And I’m sure Dr O’Brien shares this goal. I hope that this fundraiser will prompt gender-affirming doctors to reassess the logic of their extreme “no debate” policy, and ultimately abandon it. Open discussion of the science is the only way to ensure children receive the evidence-based care they need and deserve.

This is what faith-based beliefs look like.

O'Brien is not doing science. When you do science, you need to lay out your evidence and reasoning. Which Cass found to be remarkably poor, lacking follow-up and concluding things the evidence did not support.

He's not doing medicine either. When you do medicine, you talk about diagnosis, comorbidities, risks, limitations, and you start with the most effective, least invasive treatment, instead of going straight to chemically and surgically vandalizing kids for temporary distress.

#Colin Wright #Michael O’Brien #Cass review #Cass report #trans healthcare #anti science #gender affirming healthcare #gender affirming care #gender affirmation #medical scandal #medical corruption #medical malpractice #no debate #religion is a mental illness

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thankspete · 1 year

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masterlist

*indicates smut / updated 12/30/23

dylan o’brien

Swimsuits & Sangria* ➙ Pt II: Cure for a Red Wine Hangover* (coming soon!)

Unfair*

Reunion*

A Year By Your Side ➙ Summer ➙ Autumn* (coming soon!) ➙ Winter* ➙ Spring ➙ Epilogue*

5 seconds of summer

recent works When Our Friend Isn’t Around | C.H. ➙ Pt I: The Patio ➙ Pt II: The Kitchen ➙ Pt III: The Living Room* ➙ Pt IV: The Guest Bedroom*

Poolside* | C.H. (coming soon!)

7+ year old works, untouched & unedited (i truly cannot vouch for the quality of these lmao) Sober* | M.C.

Don’t Be | C.H.

Don’t Tell Me What to Do* | C.H.

Tagged Preferences

Tagged Blurbs

misc

everything i’ve written + posted to this blog (incl L.H. + A.I.) ao3: inthemorning always accepting requests/feedback here!

#dylan o'brien #5sos #calum hood #michael clifford #dylan o'brien smut #5sos smut #dylan o'brien x reader #calum hood x reader #michael clifford x reader #5sos imagine #dylan o’brien imagine #ive done zero blog maintenance since like 2015/16 so like might as well #my guess is unfair is being posted next given i just started it yesterday and im chugging along quite well #crapshoot as to whether hangover cure or poolside are next #one's started the other one is technically finished j needs editing #anywho.......#masterlist

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idiotequemoron · 1 year

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The Tibetan Freedom Concert '98 Rebroadcast Nigel stands next to Brad Pitt T^T

#radiohead #thom yorke #jonny greenwood #phil selway #ed o’brien #colin greenwood #michael stipe #rem #nigel godrich #ok computer #1998 #live

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perpetual-help · 10 months

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Is this, then, the source of the primal wound—the sense of fatherlessness? The wound makes one vulnerable to a lie: you have no father, there is no fatherhood, the universe is abandoned. The wound begets loneliness. Loneliness seeks relief in the theater of the imagination. The imagination ferments a romance. Then romance, impelled by the generative powers of the body, gradually degenerates into erotic fantasy. This in turn leaves the soul more frustrated and lonely than ever. Thus the primal lie begets destruction—worst of all, it does so in the name of love.

Michael D. O’Brien, Sophia House

#I absolutely love this author #everyone should read Michael D. O’Brien #all my mutuals who struggle with homosexual inclinations should read Sophia House

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stairnaheireann · 11 months

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#OTD in 1922 – The Provisional Government of the Irish Free State bombards the Four Courts in Dublin, and the Civil War begins.

On 14 April 1922 a column of 200 men led by Rory O’Connor occupied the Four Courts, hoping to provoke an armed confrontation with British forces which were in the process of evacuating from Ireland following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty the previous winter which had split the IRA into two opposing factions. The occupation was a direct challenge to the legitimacy of the Provisional…

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#Commandant Paddy O’Brien #Commandant Tom Barry #Dublin #Ernie O’Malley #Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson #Free State #History #History of Ireland #IRA #Ireland #Irish Civil War #Irish Free State bombards the Four Courts in Dublin #Irish History #J.J. O&039;Connell #Michael Collins #Quarter Master General Liam Mellows #Rory O&039;Connor #Stair na hÉireann

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keytaryourheart · 1 year

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Conan O’Brien Must Go vs James May Our Man In… I am not immune to old man travel show

#conan o’brien #james may #teddy text #oh yeah im normil btw #insert that michael spicer video

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margbarcisforever · 1 year

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mikey mode activated

#michael wave #featuring o’brien

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apesoformythoughts · 8 months

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I’m merely a few steps further along the path than I was previously. All that's happened is that I've stumbled upon a unique way of meeting what I feel is the universal need for the divine, which doesn't bring in its wake any of the attendant evils of traditional religions.

— The Running Grave (p. 15)

This crap is more dangerous than atheism.

#Hadjadj was right #also cf. Michael O’Brien #and That Hideous Strength #nvm I guess this ain’t new

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krispyweiss · 1 year

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Album Review: Michael Cleveland - Lovin’ of the Game

If respect can be measured by friendships, then Michael Cleveland is the Aretha Franklin of bluegrass.

The liner notes of Cleveland’s Lovin’ of the Game must’ve drained several ink jars for such bold-face names as the Travelin’ McCourys, Billy Strings, Vince Gill, Béla Fleck, Dan Tyminski, Charlie Starr, Tim O’ Brien and others who appear on various tracks when Cleveland isn’t jamming with his own band, Flame Keeper.

The guests are both the strength and relative weakness of the Game. For while the playing is beyond reproach, the diversity of players makes for a lack of cohesion as the album zigs across the jamgrass of “For Your Love” (Strings) before zagging to the country waltz of Gill’s “I Wish I Knew Now What I Knew Then” and the clichéd, new-country balladry of Starr’s re-recording of Blackberry Smoke’s “One Horse Town.”

On Lovin’ of the Game, the hottest tracks are instrumentals like “Thousand Dollar Holler” and “Contact,” with Fleck, Barry Bales and Cody Kilby.

At the center of it all is Cleveland, the blind, partially deaf fiddler who never fails to heat up any collaboration in which he’s involved.

Grade card: Michael Cleveland - Lovin’ of the Game - B

#michael cleveland #lovin’ of the game #2023 albums #billy strings #béla fleck #vince gill #the eagles #the travelin’ mccourys #dan tyminski #alison krauss and union station #barry bales #tim o’brien #charlie starr #blackberry smoke #flame keeper

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longliverockback · 1 year

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Mick Jagger Wandering Spirit 1993 Atlantic ————————————————— Tracks: 01. Wired All Night 02. Sweet Thing 03. Out of Focus 04. Don’t Tear Me Up 05. Put Me in the Trash 06. Use Me 07. Evening Gown 08. Mother of a Man 09. Think 10. Wandering Spirit 11. Hang on to Me Tonight 12. I’ve Been Lonely for So Long 13. Angel in My Heart 14. Handsome Molly —————————————————

Curt Bisquera

Michael Peter Balzary “Flea”

Mick Jagger

Jim Keltner

Brendan O’Brien

Billy Preston

Jimmy Rip

Frank Simes

Benmont Tench

Doug Wimbish

* Long Live Rock Archive

#MickJagger #Curt Bisquera #Michael Balzary #Mick Jagger #Jim Keltner #Brendan O’Brien #Billy Preston #Jimmy Rip #Frank Simes #Benmont Tench #Doug Wimbish #Wandering Spirit #LP #Pop #1993

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data2364 · 2 years

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Brent Spiner as Data 1992 in Star Trek: The Next Generation ”Power Play”

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Power_Play_%28episode%29

#Star Trek #Star Trek TNG #Brent Spiner #Data #Worf #Michael Dorn #Marina Sirtis #Deanna Troi #Colm Meaney #Miles O’Brien #Jonathan Frakes #William Riker #Patrick Stewart #Jean-Luc Picard #Power Play #Ungebetene Gäste

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idiotequemoron · 1 year

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Tibetan Freedom Concert; Washington DC, June 14, 1998

#thom yorke #radiohead #jonny greenwood #colin greenwood #phil selway #ed o’brien #rem #michael stipe #ok computer #1998

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ctxrover · 2 years

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I’ve had such weird celebrity dreams.

I went to Epcot with Lewis Capaldi and we came across Tony Blair and Gordon Brown selling Lego in the Mexico Pavilion to avoid being sent to The Hague. Then we came off the Mexico boat ride and went to B&M where Armando Iannucci was stocking shelves with Peter Capaldi, who was also having a rap battle with Colin Mochrie.

I went to Disney World and rode the Jungle Cruise. Peter Capaldi was also in my boat and he spent the whole time doing TikTok dances.

I went to Epcot with Anderson Cooper and we went on Soarin’. When we came off the ride, we had to battle ninjas with lightsabers.

Michael J. Fox’s head in a jar (a la Futurama) tried to take over the world.

Keanu Reeves came to my town to do some sightseeing.

Bruce Springsteen did a UK tour and came to my town and played the ex-serviceman’s club (which is a real place outside my dreams and has a capacity of about 200). I managed to snag tickets.

I was renovating my bathroom and helping me was Steven Spielberg.

I was playing Animal Crossing and one of my villagers was just straight up Conan O’Brien.

I pushed Shep Smith off a building and he died like Hans Gruber in Die Hard.

I had to solve Michael J Fox’s murder with Steve Martin and Martin Short - the murderer was Bruce Springsteen. Then we had to solve Bruce Springsteen’s murder - Christopher Lloyd did it in revenge with his time travelling DeLorean.

I travelled back in time to the days of the USSR with Max Weinberg. Then we met up with Conan O’Brien in France and we all went to Disneyland Paris to meet Goofy.

Clive Myrie was the Prime Minister

I attended a New Year’s Eve party with Stevie Van Zandt and Silvio from The Sopranos was there causing trouble, so Bruce Springsteen decked him. At that point, it was revealed (like on Scooby Doo) that Silvio was actually Anderson Cooper who was jealous his own New Year’s Eve show was being upstaged - and he would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for the meddling musicians!

I met Arnold Schwarzenegger while he was shopping at Tesco

Most recently, I went to a local pub, only to see Danny DeVito in there making jokes because he was filming a new film in my town.

I can explain exactly none of this.

#dreams #weird dreams #celebrity dreams #I’m noticing most of these dreams involve Anderson cooper #or Bruce Springsteen #two involve Conan O’Brien #and Michael J Fox #and Peter Capaldi #what the hell

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