EXCLUSIVE: Expert witness in trial of BC nurse testifies that child sex changes rob minors of sexual function, fertility for life

On day 9 of the disciplinary hearing of Amy Hamm, the British Columbia nurse being investigated for allegedly transphobic off-duty activity, a witness testified under cross-examination that attempting to perform sex changes on children and adolescents is “madness.”

Psychiatrist Dr. Miriam Grossman was called as a witness for Hamm and was cross-examined by barbara findlay KC, counsel for the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM). Findlay requests that her name be written in all lower case letters, to signify something about oppression. 

One of the allegations against Hamm is that she is transphobic for having publicly opposed the practice of performing experimental sex changes on adolescents, and much of the hearing has been spent analyzing the evidence in favor and against so-called “gender-affirming” care for minors, otherwise known as sex change surgeries and medications. Grossman is a vocal opponent of this model of care, and has a book called Lost in Trans Nation: A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness coming out later this year on the topic.

Findlay asked Grossman what she meant by madness, and Grossman responded by delivering a powerful speech about the lies being told to children and the invasive procedures being performed on their perfectly healthy bodies.

“The madness of permitting children, some of them with serious mental health issues, to self-diagnose, and for medical practitioners, parents, therapists, teachers, guidance counselors to automatically accept that self-diagnosis and to automatically accept the child’s wishes about what they think needs to be done,” began Grossman.

“The madness of interfering with… probably the most important phase of human development outside of in the womb: puberty. The madness of blocking that process from happening when that very process might likely help them to get over their distress. That very process which is going to involve maturation of the entire body, including the brain and cognitive abilities, the prefrontal cortex. That very process that can help the child to figure out their identity, and what they want and figure out how they want to live - that very process is blocked. That is madness,” she explained.

“It’s madness to think that a child can give informed consent for procedures that…have the potential of robbing them of their sexual function and their fertility. That is madness.”

“It’s madness to begin with. To present to children the notion that they may be in the wrong body, and that there may be a mismatch between their mind and their body. And that as a result of that mismatch they need to go through medicalization. That they will be a lifelong medical patient,” the child and adolescent psychiatrist went on.

Grossman described herself as being “in the trenches,” and called telling children that they can be born in the wrong body “dangerous and unethical.” 

She then explained to the panel how it is madness for healthcare providers and responsible adults to instruct children on how to “tuck” their penises or “bind” their breasts to create the appearance of the opposite sex.

“Tucking” involves a boy moving his testes up into the inguinal canal and then tucking his penis and scrotum, held in place by tape or tucking underwear, to create the false resemblance of having a smooth crotch like a girl.

“There’s many dangers involved with this procedure called tucking and it’s madness for any adult to be encouraging that or supporting that, let alone teaching a child how to do that,” said Grossman.

“Binding” involves wearing a tight, chest-compression device to flatten the breasts and create a more masculine chest appearance. This practice has been shown to affect lung and rib development, as well as cause difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, pain and rashes.

“But really the madness at the bottom of all of it is endorsing this belief. Leading vulnerable children to believe that there’s such a thing as having the wrong body, and needing to do all these things to your body - the tucking, the breast-binding, blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery…as if it was even possible that a person can change their sex. So all this is madness and deception,” concluded Grossman.

Then Findlay had the panel watch a presentation Grossman gave during the Gender Ideology: Problems and Pro-Human Solutions webinar hosted by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) in 2021. During the presentation, Grossman said there was no evidence that social affirmation decreases suicide and other negative outcomes. Findlay then put to Grossman that Dr. Greta Bauer, expert witness for the BCCNM who claimed yesterday that it was transphobic to question child sex changes, has produced research to prove that so-called gender affirming care reduces the risk of suicide.

Grossman responded that this was one aspect that is currently being debated, and that there were questions to be asked about whether gender dysphoric youth have a higher suicide rate or whether the elevated risk is due to their psychiatric comorbidities, of which there are often many.

Grossman has yet to qualify as an expert witness, so what followed was an attempt by Findlay to discredit her. Findlay brought up an affidavit Grossman had submitted in 2018 to the Queen’s Court of Alberta in the case of an autistic teenage girl whose parents claimed had been indoctrinated into believing she was a boy by the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) club at her school. The school withheld the information that their daughter was participating in the group and the parents only found out after she became depressed and suicidal.

Grossman’s affidavit was rejected in that case, and Findlay suggested that this was because “her beliefs about the harm of GSAs failed to recognise the legal reality in Canada of the concepts of gender identity and gender expression and the right to freely express the same are not radical ideologies promoted by activists but are individual rights recognised and protected by law.”

Gender identity and gender expression were added as protected characteristics in provincial human rights codes starting in 2012. There was no debate in Canada prior to these characteristics being added and women’s groups and child-safeguarding advocates were not consulted. Gender identity and gender expression received federal protection in 2017 with the passing of Bill C-16.