A gender-critical activist who said she had been mislabeled as “transphobic” has received a British Empire Medal in honor of the Queen’s birthday.
Stephanie Davies-Arai is the founder and director of Transgender Trend, a parenting group that has campaigned against increasing the number of children referred to clinics for medical treatment for gender dysphoria.
The organization was one of several that successfully pressured Health Secretary Sajid Javid to launch an NHS investigation earlier this year into possible harmful practices in gender clinics.
In response to her award, Ms Davies-Arai said labeling views as hers as “fanatic” was “very dangerous”.
He also came out in defense of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who became the target of intense criticism and occasional abuse by some trans rights advocates.
Transgender Trend claimed that “there is no scientific basis” for labeling transgender children and that young people who are sent to gender clinics suffer “irreversible effects for life” from their treatment.
Instead, he pointed to figures that show that many trans children first appear as gay and stated that “80 percent of [gender dysphoric] children ‘grow up’ and come to accept and be happy like the sex they were born with. ‘
In 2018, Stonewall, the LGBTQ + charity, said Transgender Trend’s views were “dangerous” to young people and “inaccurate.”
“I’m knocked out of honor”
On Wednesday, Ms Davies-Arai said: “I am very honored and thrilled to be recognized for my work. It is a great honor and I am quite honored and very grateful to all those who have appointed me.
“I hope it indicates a change of heart about the treatment of children with gender dysphoria and is a recognition of my work, which has been erroneously called transphobic or fanatical.
“What I saw was a unique approach to treating these children, which runs the risk of sending them to a medical route.
“One of my concerns was that there was no talk of an alternative. Everyone should be open to debate; it is healthy. Silencing the debate by calling evidence-based approaches “fanatical or transphobic” is very dangerous.