The Christian Institute has raised serious concerns over the influence of transgender lobby groups on the future of Northern Ireland’s ‘gender service’ for adults and children.
A Freedom of Information request submitted by The Institute revealed that controversial LGBT groups The Rainbow Project and Focus: The Identity Trust had been consulted over plans to revive the Province’s transgender clinic.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt confirmed this week that much of the £806,000 recently announced as funding for the Brackenburn in Belfast is not initial set-up costs but “will go on staffing” and therefore be an annual expense.
‘Reckless’
Last week, Nesbitt announced: “Dr Hilary Cass has agreed to my request to provide an assessment of the actions being taken in Northern Ireland”.
He claimed that his ‘relaunch’ proposals were in keeping with the “direction of travel” recommended by the highly respected paediatrician in her report to NHS England on how to reform its gender identity services.
Answering questions on the service in Stormont on Monday, the Health Minister admitted: “We have had ongoing consultation with stakeholders on the design of our service but not with Dr Cass.”
The CI’s James Kennedy told the News Letter: “It is outrageous that controversial lobby groups have been embedded in designing a new gender identity clinic for adults and children. This is not just inappropriate — it’s reckless, dangerous, and directly contradicts the expert warnings of the Cass Review.”
‘Madness’
Mr Kennedy continued: “Cass made it clear that ideology had infected gender services in England so thoroughly that basic medical protocols and safeguarding were overlooked. The Tavistock clinic had to be shut down to stop the harm being done. And yet here in Northern Ireland, we are running towards the same disaster, with transgender activists seemingly handed a seat at the table from day one.
“The minutes of the Review Group are very alarming. In one meeting, it’s openly stated that ‘a lot of lobbying’ was behind the current direction of the service. Lobbyists were tipped off about the Health Minister’s plans, including the ban on puberty blockers, before the matter was even brought to the Executive.”
Roman Catholic columnist and former BBC NI Political Correspondent Martina Purdy called the inclusion of transgender activists in the design of the service “madness”.
Madness https://t.co/kmncnz6oZ3
— Martina Purdy (@purdypols) September 6, 2025
When Belfast pollsters LucidTalk asked just over a thousand voters in Northern Ireland if they supported the level of funding earmarked for the clinic, only 34 per cent were in favour, 55 per cent felt it was wrong, while 11 per cent were undecided.
Damaging ideology
Last month, it emerged that children as young as five were referred to the Brackenburn between 2014 and 2024.
In response, Dr David Bell, who exposed the poor treatment practices at the Tavistock, said that he believed “specialist gender clinics for children and adolescents are unnecessary and harmful”.
He explained that “once you send the child to a gender clinic, you close the door on exploration and start the child on a pathway that will in all likelihood be very damaging to their development”.
The experienced psychiatrist added: “Specialist gender clinics for children are, as Cass identified, part of the problem and most definitely not part of the solution.”
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