There has been wide cross-party support for the Cass Review, which delivered stinging criticisms of NHS gender clinics and found that for most young people, a medical pathway is not the best way to treat gender-related distress. It also found there is little or no evidence about the long-term effects of puberty blockers and sex hormones for the under-18s.

This has confirmed long-standing concerns among clinicians and child welfare campaigners. In 2018, some of those campaigners sent resource packs to thousands of schools warning of the dangers of untested drugs and of the accompanying mental health issues driving children and young people – mainly girls – to identify as trans. It advised teachers to be cautious if supporting a pupil’s social transition, pointing out that ‘very few come off the path of increasingly invasive medical treatments once they start’. 

As The Times highlights today, the charity Stonewall actively worked to have these resource packs removed. Stonewall Scotland told its tens of thousands of followers on Twitter: ‘We, in the strongest possible terms, denounce and condemn this publication. If it lands on your desk, do the right thing: shred it.’ A further Stonewall statement branded the pack as ‘dangerous’ material, ‘masquerading as a professional, “evidence-based” advice. One thing we want every educator to be clear on is that they must have nothing to do with this deeply damaging publication.’

We now know beyond doubt that the opposite was true: the packs contained sound advice, and removing them was dangerous.

However, as a large, influential charity with a wide network of supporters, Stonewall got its way. Its pressure worked and the warnings were ignored by schools. An ‘affirmation-first’ approach was pursued across the education sector. In several known cases, teachers attempting to move more cautiously were disciplined or sacked.

Stonewall’s irresponsible, deceitful and self-interested behaviour – it went on to offer ‘trans-inclusive courses’ for schools, at a fee – has caused untold havoc. We believe its chief executive at the time, Ruth Hunt, should take responsibility for her charity’s deeply damaging conduct, which played a key role in the scandal now unfolding. It is deeply insulting to the families she has harmed that, instead, Hunt was awarded a peerage and now sits in the House of Lords as Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green, a legislator-for-life.

We the undersigned call on members of the upper house to use their powers under the House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015 to expel Baroness Hunt for her deeply damaging public misconduct.