LGBTIQ+ Health Australia (LHA) calls for the Queensland Government to immediately reverse its decision to stop the provision of medical gender-affirming care for trans and gender diverse young people. 

“This decision ignores the medical evidence and expert clinical guidance and will cause significant harm to young people and their families,” said Nicky Bath, LHA CEO. 

Research confirms what clinicians, researchers, and lived-experience experts have long known, that access to gender-affirming care prevents suicide. Trans and gender diverse young people who access hormone therapies experience dramatic reductions in suicide risk, distress, and mental health issues¹. Attempted suicide in trans young people is 20 times the rate observed among their cisgender peers².

“No other effective lifesaving healthcare provision would be ceased while a review takes place. Accessing gender affirming care that includes the careful prescribing of hormone therapies must not be treated differently,” Bath said. 

“The Queensland Children’s Gender Service was reviewed in 2024 and found to be safe, evidence-based, and in line with national and international clinical guidelines. The Sax Institute also reviewed the clinical evidence and found gender-affirming care to be effective.  It is important to also note that hormone therapies are prescribed to young people for example to manage early puberty.  

“This response is not about medicine or safety—it is about ideology. For too long trans and gender diverse people have had to live in fear and this response only exacerbates this fear. 

“Australia’s highly regarded universal healthcare system ensures people can access evidence-based care, free from moral, political, or religious interference. This principle applies to abortion, mental health services, end-of-life care, and protections against conversion practices, and it must also apply to trans and gender diverse healthcare.  

“If the Queensland Government pursues a review, it must be genuinely evidence-based, transparent, and inclusive. That means using proven, peer-reviewed research, not political ideology, involving trans and gender diverse organisations in the review process, and ensuring medical experts, not politicians, lead the process,” Bath said. 

-ENDS-

¹ Rainbow Realities: In-depth analyses of large-scale LGBTQA+ health and wellbeing data in Australia 2024, https://www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/work/rainbow-realities

² Trans Pathways Summary. Telethon Kids Institute.

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Mylo Norman. Pronouns: He/Him
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Last updated 21/02/2025