Australian university blocks speaker who thinks being transgender is a ‘delusional disorder’
Quentin Van Meter is president of anti-LGBT+ hate group the American College of Paediatricians (Bettina Arndt/youtube)
An Australian university has blocked a speaker who said transgender people have a “delusional disorder.”
American doctor Quentin Van Meter, who is president of anti-LGBT+ hate group the American College of Paediatricians (ACPeds), was due to speak today (August 17) at the University of Western Australia.
The backlash to Van Meter, which involved a 6,000-strong petition, was reminiscent of the outrage provoked by University of Sussex lecturer Kathleen Stock last month when she said that “trans women are still males with male genitalia.”
“Van Meter has said that being trans is “a state of mind with no biologic basis for it that can be found” (Quentin Van Meter/facebook)
The university initially defended its decision to host the lecture by Van Meter, whose organisation also promotes gay ‘cure’ therapy and urges parents not to validate their child’s sexuality if they’re not straight.
The South Poverty Law Centre calls ACPeds “a fringe anti-LGBT hate group that masquerades as the premier U.S. association of paediatricians to push anti-LGBT junk science.”
He is currently on a national tour sponsored by the Australian Family Association (AFA), an anti-LGBT+ group which has said that being trans is like having an eating disorder.
The university blocked Van Meter on a technicality (the university of western australia/facebook)
The university in Perth stopped his lecture on a technicality, explaining that the AFA had not provided a risk assessment or detailed event management plan addressing issues of safety for the event, according to The West Australian.
“Due to an issue of non-compliance, the venue hire booking has been voided. The event organisers have been advised they have forfeited their booking rights for failure to meet the conditions of hire,” the institution added.
Van Meter, who has said that being trans is “a state of mind with no biologic basis for it that can be found,” leads a group which says on its site that gender dysphoria “resolves in the vast majority of patients by late adolescence.”
It also states that “sexual reorientation therapy can be effective.”
Van Meter’s group states that “sexual reorientation therapy can be effective” (Bettina Arndt/youtube)
Gay ‘cure’ therapy, a harmful and pointless practice which has been banned by 14 states, will be endured by 20,000 LGBT teens in the US before they’re 18, according to a study published in January.
Despite this, ACPeds states that it is being gay that is dangerous, writing: “Children exposed to the homosexual lifestyle may be at increased risk for emotional, mental, and even physical harm.”
It adds: “While homosexual attraction may not be a conscious choice, it is changeable for many individuals.”
The organisation also warns against welcoming a child’s decision to come out, saying: “Declaring and validating a student’s same-sex attraction during the adolescent years is premature and may be harmful.”
Van Meter has compared allowing kids with gender dysphoria to use puberty blockers to child abuse, according to The Guardian.
