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ANGE:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ange McCormack. This is 7am.

Transgender people in Australia are facing rising levels of hate and discrimination - and according to advocates, irresponsible media reporting is partly to blame.

Some outlets have focused on stories of transgender people transitioning back to the sex they were assigned at birth, despite this being an extremely rare and complex experience among the trans community.

Today, CEO of Transcend Australia, Jeremy Wiggins, on the attack on transgender people in Australia, and the role of the media in telling their stories.

It’s Wednesday, September 20.

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ANGE:

Jeremy, there’s been a big uptick in the coverage of trans issues by the media in the last couple of years — some good, but a lot of it is bad — how would you describe the level of anti-trans rhetoric at the moment?

JEREMY:

It's actually everywhere. It's insidious. It can form in terms of anti-trans campaigners banding together to host events.

Audio excerpt – ABC:

“This is British activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, she’s been appearing at anti-transgender rights rallies across Australia, she says she is campaigning for women’s rights, but those who oppose her coming here say her message is one of hate.”

JEREMY:

Or it can be members of political parties that also want to amplify those voices, and move motions to have a public inquiry into transgender health care.

Audio excerpt – Pauline Hanson:

“Will the Minister support the referral of these matters for inquiry so the Senate may investigate the long term health impacts of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones treatments on Australia's young people.”

JEREMY:

It can be doctors looking to develop policy from particular health care associations that would seek to jeopardise trans people having access to health care.

Audio excerpt – Reporter:

“A feud over how to treat kids with gender issues is playing out at Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney's west.”

JEREMY:

How it plays out in the real world, in public life, it can't just be someone who maybe has some… a lack of educational understanding, because they have believed the information that has been shared through a major media platform. They perhaps have not met or developed a relationship with a transgender person, so have a distorted view on what a transgender life is, or who a transgender person might be. So what we are seeing is this coordinated attack on our rights and our lives, and that’s having a detrimental impact on the safety of trans people across Australia.

ANGE:

And we know that the trans community has been the subject of irresponsible and damaging media reporting over the years. And at the moment, the media have been focusing on something in particular called detransitioning. Can you explain what exactly that is, and why the media have become so fixated on it?

JEREMY:

Well, firstly, the experience of detransitioning, the language can be different, and it doesn't necessarily mean that people regret or stop their transition. There are a number of trans, gender diverse, and non-binary people who may, for example, decide to stop their hormone treatment for a period of time for a particular reason, and maybe start again later in life. So it's an experience that's led by the person's needs and goals. But unfortunately, the nuance and the complexity of that experience has been co-opted by the anti-trans movement in the media to inflame a sense of fear and moral panic around this idea that providing access to gender affirming care is going to lead to people completely regretting their decisions. And it's being used in a way to alarm the general public and decision makers in policy or medical spaces to stop people accessing treatment.

Audio excerpt – Liam Bartlett:

“Tonight on Spotlight, children are being told they should change from boy to girl or girl to boy.”

JEREMY:

So on the recent Channel 7 episode of Spotlight that was hosted by journalist Liam Bartlett, it included so many inaccuracies about what gender affirming health care is. It misrepresented the model of care.

Audio excerpt – Reporter:

“For some, it is the answer to who they really are. But for others, it's causing irreparable physical and emotional damage.”

JEREMY:

And it's also not really positioning it in terms of the statistics that are available. That suggests that less than 1% of people actually detransition or perhaps may regret some of the decisions that they have made. And in the context of medical decision making, that's an incredibly low rate.

ANGE:

Yeah, and can you tell me a bit about the lead up to this program airing and what it was like when it finally went to air?

JEREMY:

I was aware of this story for some months. I was contacted by the producer working on this story. They were looking for a voice from what they called “our side”. The opening question from the producer was, “We're looking into why there is so many young people accessing health care and if it's social contagion.” That terminology immediately was a red flag to me, because that is a false terminology to characterise what is happening with young people accessing health care. Another question that came to me from the producer was, asked me personally without consent, “Were you born a woman?” The lack of sensitivity from the producer in terms of inquiring about my own trans experience without developing a trusting relationship or getting my consent to ask personal questions, was also a concern for me ethically on how they were going to be treating trans people, or people who had a trans experience in the past on the show. Then I was asked if I regretted my decision, and I said I absolutely do not. I'm very happy. I have a fantastic life. I'm very comfortable. She challenged me again, saying, “Are you sure you do not regret it even a little bit.” I said, “No, I do not regret it at all.” So my concern was that they were just looking for voices who had an issue with gender affirming health care, and had a personal experience of regretting and were seeking particular voices to manufacture a story.

ANGE:

So can you describe what was in the show and, and how you felt when you saw what was put to air?

JEREMY:

Well, the first glimpse that we had of what they had produced was the trailer.

Audio excerpt – Spotlight

“Thousands of kids are doing it and regretting it.”

Audio excerpt – Unknown:

“I've gone through. A medical catastrophe…”

JEREMY:

So it was already setting it up as though it was this absolute national disaster of thousands of kids regretting their transition, which is false. It also included images and videos of trans adults, suggesting that they had regretted the decision of affirming that gender as children, which was also not true.

Audio excerpt – TikToker 1:

“So about a week ago, I was on the news in Australia, of all places.“

Audio excerpt – TikToker 2:

“I transitioned at 13 and I do not regret it at all.”

JEREMY:

Those images and videos were used without the people's consent.

Audio excerpt – TikToker 3:

“Also, don't use content of trans creators who definitely make it clear that they are not regretting it for your documentation about trans people who regret it.”

JEREMY:

And medical care and medical treatment, it's actually a right for that to be private.

Audio excerpt – Dr. Jillian Spencer:

“Well, I've seen kids see a social worker for two sessions and then be referred to the paediatric sexual health physician to start puberty blockers.”

JEREMY:

There was also a doctor, Dr. Jillian Spencer, who claimed that there was no benefit in trans and gender diverse young people or adults, accessing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. That's not true. There is significant evidence out there that speaks to the benefits of trans and gender diverse young people accessing gender affirming health care. In fact, there's a recent clinical study that was launched at the University of Melbourne, and the evidence from that trial suggests that the suicide rate for the group that had access to treatment was significantly lower than the group that did not have access to treatment. There's a plethora of evidence out there that suggests access to gender affirming healthcare has a direct benefit to trans people's lives. In the Channel 7 Spotlight episode, that was not included. And I think what's irresponsible is to misrepresent what the model of care is and to suggest that you can get access to treatment in a 60 minute appointment. I think it's irresponsible for a medical practitioner to say that they have witnessed a patient have two sessions of a social worker and be referred for a prescription. The actual medical model is a long term, rigorous, comprehensive assessment process with multidisciplinary teams. It's not an appointment that you can have in 60 minutes and walk out with a script. And that's what we also need to understand as well, that this is a very complex area of health with fantastic medical providers doing comprehensive assessments.

ANGE:

And Jeremy, what's the reaction been like to the program, I guess, from both people who were in the show, or in the promos, and also from people in the trans community?

JEREMY:

I think that that episode had a devastating impact on the well-being of the trans community and also their families. So, because we knew it was going to air, we had to put in place crisis management plans with the community and their families before it went to air and brief them, provide support in advance during and after that, because these types of episodes and media pieces are incredibly dangerous in terms of driving hate, and also driving violence towards trans people, but also because it's a community that is already experiencing high rates of poor mental health, because of the external treatment towards trans people, it can also really jeopardise the risk of people's safety in terms of suicide risk and self-harm.

ANGE:

Coming up after the break, how do we make Australia a safer place for the trans community?

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ANGE:

Jeremy, why do you think some parts of the media, and conservative figures, and politicians, seek out and tell stories about things like detransitioning? What do you think is really behind their interest in that?

JEREMY:

My concern is with a number of people, is that they can say see this is an issue that drives responses and reactivity in the general public. It's an emotional topic because it's a moral issue that is being inflamed as though it's a child protection or a child safety issue. And that invokes emotional responses from people. It also gets an increased level of media reporting, and it's a way to manipulate messages to support people with their political aspirations, which is why we have some of the same anti-trans campaigners working on this issue, claiming that it's about women's rights, claiming that it's about child safeguarding. But they don't talk about anything else. They don't talk about the gender pay gap. They don't talk about quality of education. The trans community faces high rates of verbal abuse, harassment and violence, which is picked up in the fuelling hate report by the Trans Justice Project. So it's causing significant harm to a community that wants to be left alone who are not out there saying “trans rights are human rights” because we think it's fun to be out there campaigning for our livelihoods. People don't want to be doing that. We only do that in response to being under threat. So I think that people need to be mindful of the harm that can be caused by their actions. But what concerns me the most is that they are. And they just don't care.

ANGE:

Jeremy, I'm wondering, how do you tell the stories of detransitioning, even if they are in the minority responsibly? How do you do that?

JEREMY:

I think that each person's story is important. Each human being is important. And their experiences are really, really important. But I think what happens is when you have a minority of voices that have been handpicked or selected to propel a particular agenda that the media are peddling to inflame fear, and to give a sensationalised perspective to what is really going on, I think that that can cause dangerous harm and outcomes, more so than give the general public a well-rounded picture of what's really going on. It's misleading them to think that this is a medical disaster of some kind where there's like high numbers of people who feel like they regret making this decision, which is not true.

ANGE:

And as we see more types of this reporting in the media and with anti-trans hate on the rise, what do you think needs to be done most urgently to address the kinds of harm that that reporting and the atmosphere in general at the moment causes?

JEREMY:

I think what we need is support from leadership in government, and from other organisations, including women's health organisations, and the broader public to step in and to stand up for trans people, to stand up for a vulnerable population that's under attack right now. But despite the fact that trans people are in the media so much and not in a way where we are necessarily being able to represent ourselves in a positive light, and really speak to the levels of trans joy, and strength, and empowerment that exist out there across the country. I'm also really inspired and motivated by the level of amazing work happening across the country, by community controlled organisations.

My belief is, and there's research to support this, that the majority of Australians want trans people to live well, and the majority of Australians want trans people to have access to health care because we recognise that as a human right. So. I am feeling optimistic that Australia will come through for trans people and that people will find the courage to step up and speak up for trans people. And I know that there's amazing work going on all around the country.

ANGE:

Jeremy, thanks so much for your time today.

JEREMY:

Thank you.

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ANGE:

Also in the news today….

A bean-bag gun, fired by NSW police during a siege in Newcastle, has killed 47-year old woman Krista Kach.

The bean-bag round, which is described by police as supposedly ‘less-than-lethal’, penetrated the woman’s chest – hitting her heart.

Use of the weapon has been suspended across NSW police, while an internal investigation continues.

And…

The first day of the inquiry into the decision to bar Qatar airways from flying additional flights into Australia, and whether that decision was made to benefit Qantas has heard that Qantas is a quote “exceptionally aggressive airline”.

Dr Tony Webber, who runs an independent research body that monitors airlines around the world, told the hearing that if the government had let Qatar airways into the market, it could have reduced fares for travellers between 7-10% from current levels.

I’m Ange McCormack, this is 7am. We’ll be back again tomorrow.

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