Keira Bell, who regrets her female to male transition, after being prescribed puberty blockers aged 16, will be a witness for Lyle Shelton, National Director of the Family First Party, taken to court by two drag queens. Bell sued the UK’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, at the time the UK’s only gender identity clinic.
“Now she is an expert witness in my free speech case against two LGBTIQA+ drag queens who are suing me for saying they are dangerous role models for children,” Lyle Shelton writes.
“At age 20, Keira (pictured) had her breasts cut off so she could complete her “transition” from woman to man. She now bitterly regrets heading down this path as a 15-year-old under the guidance of the Tavistock Centre in London.
“My lawyers at the Human Rights Law Alliance approached Keira and she has kindly provided a seven-page statement to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in support of my case.”
In her expert witness statement, Bell says “Gender dysphoria is a very troubling condition and patients should be dealt with sensitively but also appropriately.
“Allowing a teenager to either believe they are the opposite sex or that they will become that is a cruel lie.”
She says she should have been given therapy, not drugs – the side effects she still feels.
In 2020 two drag queens, Johnny Valkyrie “Queenie” and Dwayne Hill “Diamond” or “Diamond Good Rim,” sued Shelton for vilification. “My alleged crime was to write a blog highlighting that these drag queens were promoting gender-fluid ideology to children and that they were ‘dangerous role models’ after they appeared at a drag queen story time event for children at a Brisbane City Council library,” Shelton says.
Students from the UQ Liberal and Nationals Club protested the original event and there was tragic aftermath when one protestor Wilson Gavin took his life. Following this Shelton posted “Let’s hope the kiddies watching Drag Queen Storytime last Sunday don’t go exploring on Good-Rim’s Facebook page. Or ask their mum what ‘good rim’ means in the wonderful world of drag queens,’’ the Sydney Star Observer reported.
After mediation failed Shelton was told by the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC) to:
- Delete several of his blogs posts warning of the harms of LGBTIQA+ drag queens reading to children;
- Publicly apologise; and
- Pay $20,000 in compensation to the drag queens.
(Update: A member of Shelton’s legal team points out that these are the remedies sought by the complainants, not findings by QHRC)
His refusal to accede to these remedies has led to a three-day hearing in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal starting on November 28.
Keira Bell will provide evidence of harm through surgery rather than commentary online. Bell took her case against the Tavistock clinic to the highest levels of the UK Court system winning at the high court because t it was unlikely that a child under the age of 16 could be Gillick competent to consent to puberty-blocking treatment.
But the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court judgment and ruled that ‘”it was for clinicians rather than the court to decide on competence” to consent to receive puberty blockers.
Subsequently, a review by the independent Cass commission found that there was “Scarce and inconclusive” evidence to support Tavistock’s GIDS “affirmative” approach to clinical decision-making. The Clinic has been closed with regional clinics to replace it using a broader model of care that takes into account “the holistic needs of this population.”
Detransitioners
There are now reports of 1,000 detransitioners planning to sue Tavistock’s GIDS. The Kiera Bell scenario may be played out in Australia. Sydney woman, Jay Langadinos, is suing her former psychiatrist for professional negligence over the transgender treatment she began as a teenager.
Wendy Francis, National Director for Politics of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), said “The bravery of young Australians such as Jay Langadinos and Ollie Davies speaking publicly of their gender change regret must be heard. State governments such as Tasmania, South Australia and NSW are currently being pressured by activists to mandate affirmation therapy for gender-confused children and young people.
“The damage inflicted on vulnerable children and young people is likely to be the biggest medical scandal of this century. Ms Langadinos may be the first legal case in Australia, but there are 1000 families in the UK taking legal action against London’s Tavistock clinic. It is time for Australian governments to stop and consider.”
In this context, Keira Bell’s expert witness statement points to Shelton’s description of Valkyrie and Hill as “dangerous role models” relates to the health effects of children entering into an “affirmative” pathway toward transgender treatment.
Puberty Blockers
The Cass report that lead to the Closure of Tavistock’s GIDS, revealed the lack of evidence for the effectiveness of puberty blockers: “The Review is not able to provide definitive advice on the use of puberty blockers and feminising/masculinising hormones at this stage, due to gaps in the evidence base.”
However, the use of puberty blockers is increasingly under question who have not passed puberty, because of irreversible effects on the future sexual function of young teenagers, specifically that they will be inorgasmic.
Shelton’s comments read differently when read against the risks exemplified by Keira Bell.
Bell was referred to the Tavistock GIDS clinic at the age of 16,” the BBC reported. She said after three one-hour-long appointments she was prescribed puberty blockers, which delay the development of signs of puberty, like periods or facial hair.
Keira Bell told the BBC “I should have been challenged on the proposals or the claims that I was making for myself,” she said. “And I think that would have made a big difference as well. If I was just challenged on the things I was saying.”
Quite apart from a Christian concern about transgender, the medical difficulties of gender transition give grounds for Shelton’s description of drag queen role models as “dangerous.”
There are competing interests present. As people of goodwill, Christians will want to communicate respect and concern for sexual minorities and at the same time not shy away from the realities that can be involved in matters such as gender transition.
“I bear them no ill will; it is the normalisation of Drag Queen Story Time and its inherent danger to children that concerns me,” Shelton wrote in a recent Spectator piece.