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NHS Trans Care Officials Speak At Anti-Trans Hate Group SEGM's Conference
The speakers are poised to determine the future of transgender care in the United Kingdom, which has increasingly come under attack.
On Wednesday, the full agenda for a conference in Athens, organized by the Society for Evidence in Gender Medicine (SEGM)—a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group—was made public. The group has faced criticism for advocating against conversion therapy bans for transgender people and for sharing funding sources with the Heritage Foundation, the organization behind Project 2025, which aims to declare transgender people obscene. While this year’s conference will feature typical anti-transgender speakers, such as “reparative” conversion therapy defender Ken Zucker and Richard Stephens, leader of the abusive conversion therapy group Bayswater, the most notable aspect is the participation of at least five figures associated with the NHS. These individuals have been or will be influential in shaping transgender care in the United Kingdom.
Among the NHS officials and associates speaking at the conference are Riittakerttu Kaltiala, an advisor to the Cass Review who has worked with Governor Ron DeSantis' appointees in Florida to ban transgender care in the state; Trilyby (Tilly) Langton, an author of the systematic reviews used to justify the Cass Review in the United Kingdom; Michael Absoud, deputy head of the upcoming United Kingdom puberty blocker trial; Anastassis Spiliadis, an early proponent of modern trans conversion therapy methods and a trainer for NHS children's gender services; and Julie Alderson, who is responsible for establishing a new Southern NHS Children's Gender Service in the United Kingdom. Notably, none of these officials spoke at the World Professional Association for Transgender Health conference, held the week prior.
It is clear that the participation of several prominent NHS advisors and officials is intentional. The conference packet starts with a quote from the highly criticized Cass Review from Dr. Hillary Cass, “An explicit clinical pathway must be developed for non-medical interventions, as well as a research strategy for evaluating their effectiveness.”
Their participation in the conference is troubling. SEGM has played a central role in numerous anti-trans court cases and laws worldwide. The group submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in an upcoming case concerning constitutional protections for transgender individuals, labeling transgender care as "experimental" and "harmful" for youth. Several SEGM affiliates collaborated with the Cass Review to restrict care in the United Kingdom. The Heritage Foundation frequently references SEGM’s work and its leaders to support efforts to ban transgender care in the U.S. Additionally, the group is often cited by attorneys from the far-right Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom.
The interconnected nature of SEGM with far-right funding streams and anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups was uncovered earlier this year in a Southern Poverty Law Center report, which labeled SEGM the center of an "anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network." The report revealed that SEGM collaborates with other pseudoscience groups to spread misinformation about transgender people. It also highlighted how SEGM network members were involved in an anti-LGBTQ+ education campaign aimed at preventing the inclusion of "gender-identity ideology in schools." SEGM Founder William Malone appeared in a series of leaked emails described as an “anti-trans holy war” by Vice between members of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)—the architects of Florida's original "Don't Say Gay" bill—and paid anti-trans experts. The emails included sign-offs like “under His wings” and declarations such as “the children belong to Him,” with references to "God’s will" being fulfilled through bans on gender-affirming care. A later email even hinted at SEGM’s formation by Malone as a way to bypass WPATH with alternative standards of care, and the organization was founded months later and such alternate standards of care are now being pushed by SEGM members at the conference.
Notably, SEGM’s funding streams include the same groups that fund the Heritage Foundation, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Family Research Council, far-right organizations capitalizing on Christian nationalism. Each of these organizations is on the Project 2025 Organization List; Project 2025 is a Christian nationalist plan for America that seeks to combat “political power [subverting] the American family… [replacing] people’s natural loves and loyalties with unnatural ones.” The SPLC determined that the funding primarily came from donor advised funds with a history of promoting anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups such as the Heritage Foundation and other Project 2025 signatories. This includes money from the Charles Koch Institute through the Edward Charles Foundation.
Alongside the NHS members responsible for transgender care, several well-known anti-trans figures will also be speaking. Among them is Dr. Kenneth Zucker, whose 1990s research is frequently cited to falsely claim high detransition or desistance rates among transgender youth. Zucker is infamous for defending reparative conversion therapy for gay youth, justifying it by arguing that "a homosexual lifestyle in a fundamentally unaccepting culture simply creates unnecessary social difficulties." His clinic faced accusations of employing similar conversion therapy techniques on transgender youth, including withholding cross-gender toys and encouraging parents to "not give in" to their child’s desire to wear clothing that aligns with their gender identity.
The speaker slot preceding several NHS speakers and the “UK Training Part II” features Richard Stephens, founder of the Bayswater Support Group, which has come under fire for abusive practices targeting transgender youth. Although the group presents itself as a support network to "help parents feel less isolated" after their children come out as trans, investigations by the Trans Safety Network and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed that Bayswater has been engaging in conversion therapy and other abusive practices.
See this excerpt from the investigation:
“Several Bayswater members describe behaviour that under Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidelines could be classed as domestic abuse, like destroying or removing their children’s pride flags, LGBTQ+ badges, bras and binders (clothing used to create the appearance of a flat chest).
One parent, who had already destroyed several binders, described how they had issued an ultimatum when their child bought another. “I told [them] to go and get [their] phone, laptop and tablet, and that [they weren’t] getting them back until [they] would give up [their] binder,” the post read.”
The presence of NHS members at the conference has alarmed advocates for transgender rights in the United Kingdom. Dr. Cal Horton, a transgender researcher in the United Kingdom, noted, “There is a very active & concerted effort to ensure anti-trans figures are in positions of authority across the NHS, especially in trans children's care. This is an acute & powerful threat to trans children's healthcare rights, with risk of abuse & conversive practices…. No one with a key role in the NHS for trans children attended last week's WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. This recognized professional trans healthcare event was attended by 1400 people.”
Although alternate standards of care for transgender people from the far-right Christian fundamentalist working group have not yet been adopted in the United Kingdom or the United States, the participation of NHS members at SEGM’s conference is alarming. If SEGM affiliates continue to gain influence within the NHS, conversion therapy practices could become a normalized treatment method for transgender youth. The mission of SEGM and the presence of these key officials signal a clear trajectory—one that may ultimately reshape transgender care in the U.K. and beyond, pushing harmful, pseudoscientific conversion therapy practices into mainstream healthcare.
(c) 2024, Erin in the Morning
