Gender affirming healthcare

SA Parliamentarians Heidi Girolamo MLC, Laura Henderson MLC, and Frank Pangallo MLC hosted an Australian Christian Lobby forum featuring Chloe Cole, a woman who underwent a double mastectomy and hormone treatments by age 15 in the US.

While some people do transition and later experience regret, the rates of regret for gender affirming care are extremely rare at around 1-2% (ANZJP, 2022).

7NEWS coverage reported that 88 children aged between 3-10 had been referred to the Women's and Children's Hospital Gender Diversity in the last 2 years.

Many trans people become aware of their gender in childhood. Having a safe and affirming space for children and their families to explore their gender and receive psychosocial support is crucial to their wellbeing.

The WCH Gender Diversity Service practices in line with international standards of care which state "puberty blockers should not be implemented in prepubertal gender diverse youth", that is generally children under the age of 12.

We wrote to Health Minister Chris Picton MP expressing our concerns and opposition to a proposed review of gender diversity services.

Minister Picton responded reiterating that medical decisions should be made by doctors, not by politicians. Minister Picton noted that the NSW Government has engaged the Sax Institute to review evidence on gender affirming care and that the outcome of the review would be considered by SA Health.

South Australian transgender advocates Zac Cannell and Lucy Solonsch met with Frank Pangallo to share their experiences accessing gender affirming care.

They reiterated the need to listen to the evidence and lived experience of trans and gender diverse people.

An independent review of gender identity services for children and young people in the UK was released. The review ignores the consensus of major medical bodies around the world and lacks relevance within an Australian context.

South Australian Parliamentarians including the Hon Frank Pangallo MLC (IND) and the Hon Nicola Centofanti MLC (LIB) continue calls for an independent review into the provision of gender affirming care at SA Health.

After SA Labor Party, SA Greens and Hon Michelle Lensink MLC publicly committed to oppose it, the Hon. Frank Pangallo MLC withdrew his parliamentary motion to establish an inquiry into young people seeking assistance for gender dysphoria in South Australia.

We released a joint statement along with health professionals, human rights experts and parents to call on South Australian MLCs to vote down the harmful and unnecessary parliamentary motion into gender affirming care.

Over 1,200 South Australians signed our petition calling out the unnecessary dangers of this inquiry. Together we amplified the voices of trans and gender diverse folk in mainstream media like Jace who shared their story of accessing gender affirming care as a teenager with 9 News.

The Hon. Frank Pangallo MLC tabled a parliamentary motion to establish an inquiry into young people seeking assistance for gender dysphoria in South Australia.

Trans community advocates met with Health Minister Chris Picton MP. SA Health released their draft model of care later that day, with proposed funding for services to be confirmed.

We wrote to all political parties in the lead up to the 2022 SA State Election.

"Labor supports improved access to healthcare for trans and gender diverse South Australians. We condemn the Marshall Liberal Government's inaction in response to SARAA and Transcend SA's continued advocacy to improve awareness of and access to these services in South Australia - despite the clear recommendation of doctors."

- Premier elect Peter Malinauskas,Letter to SA Rainbow Advocacy Alliance, 8 February 2022

SA Health published an update on the development of the statewide gender diversity model of care, reflecting outcomes from community consultation.