Yvonne van Dongen
Veteran NZ journo incredulous gender ideology escaped the lab. Won’t rest until reality makes a comeback.
When Health NZ sought advice on new gender affirming guidelines, they went to two of the most enthusiastic advocates of gender ideology – PATHA (the Professional Association of Transgender Health Aotearoa) and Gender Minorities Aotearoa.
PATHA is the New Zealand iteration of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), the group well and truly discredited by the Cass Review and exposed in the leaked WPATH files. These files revealed the limits of physician’s knowledge about the medical treatment of gender confused youth, despite promoting it. Journalist researcher Mia Hughes wrote a report on the files, titled “Pseudoscientific Surgical and Hormonal Experiments on Children, Adolescents and Vulnerable Adults”.
Some members of PATHA are also members of WPATH, notably PATHA Dr Jamie Veale, who was the founding president of PATHA and is the current secretary of WPATH.
The other group Health NZ consulted is Gender Minorities Aotearoa (GMA), a body that bills itself as a nationwide transgender organisation. Their website states GMA is “run by and for transgender people, including binary and non-binary, irawhiti takatāpui, and intersex trans people”. Funding of just under $500,000 annually comes largely from grants and donations as well as services rendered. They are based in Wellington and employ two full-time staff.
So in short, in 2023 Health NZ contracted a discredited organisation and a small lobby group, to update the 2018 guidelines for gender affirming healthcare. Both groups believe unevidenced claims that people can be born in the wrong body and individuals can change sex.
Although the Health NZ report on the new guidelines was due out at the end of March this year, it has failed to appear. This has upset PATHA, which submitted their updated guidelines in October 2024. They say their guidelines had been peer reviewed by clinicians with expertise in this care from within New Zealand and overseas. The guidelines covered new topics such as healthcare environments and non-medical gender affirmation options.
They note that the small section within this document relating to puberty blockers aligns with the Ministry of Health’s position statement on care and “supports safe prescribing for young people”.
According to PATHA, political interference is responsible for the non-appearance of the guidelines to date.
Their website states that “in the days beforehand, an FYI was sent to the minister and associate minister of health. Less than 24 hours before the date of publication, there was an unnecessary, indefinite and unexplained delay in the publication of these clinical guidelines. We believe this is due to unprecedented and inappropriate political interference.”
PATHA presented an extensive list of signatories that called upon the government to allow Health NZ to publish the updated guidelines for gender affirming healthcare in New Zealand immediately. That list includes bodies such as General Practice New Zealand, The Paediatric Society of New Zealand, the NZ College of Clinical Psychologists, NZ Nurses Organisation, as well health services and individuals.
No wonder PATHA are cross about Health NZ’s failure to publish the guidelines on gender affirming care since an internal memo recommended PATHA as offering the best solution at the best price. The memo to Allan Moffitt, interim clinical director commissioning, Health NZ recommended:
PATHA delivered the most comprehensive response with the highest score of 4.05 out of 5. This proposal successfully demonstrated PATHA can deliver the objectives of this funding and accordingly we recommend selecting PATHA as the provider of these services, subject to successful negotiation of an agreement.
Simon Tegg from Genspect NZ wrote to the then Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti, expressing Genspect NZ’s concerns about PATHA’s potential involvement and seeking reassurance that PATHA or WPATH members had not attempted to influence, delay or suppress the ministry’s evidence brief and position statement. Genspect NZ also informed Reti that the basis of the NZ clinical guidelines is the subject of a legal dispute in the USA.
Genspect NZ also made an OIA requesting information on the WPATH or PATHA members of Health NZ’s Gender Affirming Primary Care Advisory Group, on the identity of the authors of the forthcoming national guidelines as well as members of any third party group.
The final sentence of his letter stated, “The coalition government’s focus on evidence-based policies is commendable, and it is important that scientific integrity is not compromised by political interference,” which is ironic given PATHA’s complaints.
PS. The image was taken at the Albert Park mobbing of women by TRAS to remind us who we are up against.
This article was originally published on the author’s Substack.
