The Cass report, children, and the Church of England
by Ian Paul, Psephizo:
Dr Hilary Cass has delivered her final report offering an independent review of gender identity services for children and young people. The report is online, and is long and complex (not surprisingly) at 232 pages for the main body of the report, but there is a helpful summary of the key points on the supporting website. It appears to mark a significant watershed in a change of direction and attitude to this complex and vexing issue, though it perhaps does not go far enough in rethinking the whole approach to the questions of sex and identity that have been like a runaway train in the last ten years or so.
What this report also shows (though I am not sure anyone has noted this) is the value of an independent ‘audit’ approach to complex organisations. When an organisation has a range of different entities which communicate imperfectly with one another, then it allows powerful individuals and lobbies to infiltrate into this structure, and without any single person reviewing what is happening, these can significantly influence the decisions that are made with anyone realising. So this question of review and audit is closely related to questions of power and influence.
As a way into the implications of the Cass review and its findings, it is helpful to note some of the responses to it from commentators in this area.
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