The National Lottery has been urged to cut funding to a charity that has produced a guide to help young people illegally obtain puberty blockers.
‘The Love Tank’, which receives public funding from the National Lottery and the Wellcome Trust, has been criticised for its “irresponsible” and “dangerous” ‘Little Back Pocket Guide To Puberty-Suppressing Hormones’ for children as young as nine. The charity has also produced guides on ‘safer sex work’, illegal drug taking and DIY hormone replacement therapy.
In 2024, a UK-wide ban on the sale or supply of puberty-blocking drugs for gender-confused children was extended ‘indefinitely’ based on evidence that the drugs pose an “unacceptable safety risk” to young people.
In response to criticism, the National Lottery clarified that it is funding one of the charity’s specific projects and not its “direct healthcare or public health information campaigns”.
‘Appalling’
Baroness Cass, whose influential report led to the ban on puberty blockers, said she was “appalled” that the National Lottery is funding a group producing resources that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) “described as irresponsible and unacceptable”.
She emphasised: “It is irrelevant whether they are funding this project or The Love Tank’s other projects. No ethical national body or charity, and particularly one which professes to promote health, should give funds to an organisation providing dangerous information to children, any more than they should support the tobacco industry.”
A DHSC spokesman stated: “The safety and well-being of children and young people is paramount, which is why strict controls are in place for access to these hormones.”
‘Putting lives at risk’
MP Joy Morrissey commented: “The idea of a pocket guide to puberty blockers and a DIY HRT programme is horrific enough. The fact that this organisation receives funding from the taxpayer is beyond the pale. I’ve written to the National Lottery Fund to seek urgent answers. This must be stopped.”
Transgender Trend’s Director Stephanie Davies-Arai highlighted: “This group is knowingly putting young people’s health and even lives at risk. It’s unbelievable that the lottery community fund and Wellcome Trust are funding this dangerous group.”
Fiona McAnena, Director of Campaigns at women’s rights group Sex Matters, added: “This so-called guide is reckless and irresponsible, using playful graphics to present misleading and harmful information”.
“It seems scandalous that the National Lottery is funding an organisation pumping out such dangerous material.”
‘Dangerous’ charities
The Institute’s Head of Communications Angus Saul warned: “A lot of people justify participation in the National Lottery because some of the proceeds go towards ‘good causes
“Undoubtedly many of these causes are those people might choose to support, or would not object to, but the reality is that there are a great many ‘good causes’, and some of them are nothing of the sort.
“Stonewall, Mermaids and LGBT Youth Scotland all promote dangerous gender ideology and have been granted hundreds of thousands and even millions by the National Lottery for various projects. So too have Humanists UK and ‘Compassion in Dying’ – sister organisation to Dignity in Dying – which have been aggressively promoting assisted suicide for many years.
“And now we see lottery money being channelled into an organisation giving dangerous medical advice to children and adults alike. The National Lottery can complain all it likes that the money was not for these projects, but the reality is that it gave money to ‘The Love Tank’ when such resources were publicly available. So there was either no due diligence, or no moral qualms about this dangerous propaganda.”
Reality of the lottery
He continued: “Far from being harmless fun, the National Lottery exploits the poorest in society, while diverting a slice of the proceeds towards nefarious charities such as this.
“Gambling, including the lottery, is immoral, appeals to covetousness, and is incompatible with the command to love our neighbours.
“The lottery makes almost everyone who plays it poorer: on average, people lose around double what they stake. Someone spending £5 a week on lottery tickets might expect to win £125 or so, but they will have staked £250 to get it. Such money would be better spent elsewhere.
“And this nonsense about ‘good causes’ is little more than a PR campaign for the industry. In reality, only about a quarter of what is staked goes towards charitable causes – including causes with which we might profoundly disagree – meaning for every £1 staked, charities receive about 25p of it. However, with Gift Aid, someone donating £1 directly to a charity means the charity receives £1.25. Charities might not struggle financially if more people donated directly.”
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