The Trans Agenda weekend edition

Tuesday 28 April 2026

As with my return to the Trans Agenda, that was out on Sunday, things seem somewhat quieter than when I stopped all doing this a year ago, but it’s far too early to say if this is a trend or just a lull.

Before I launch into the papers, I have to point you towards Arthur Webber’s superb new book, ‘Jacob’s Transition Goals’, “an inspiring story about trans inclusion and trans kids in sport.”

You can read more about this wonderful children’s book, and get your orders in, here. Support trans artists whenever you can, so if you can’t stretch to purchasing Arthur’s book, please consider sharing it with your network.

Monday 20 April – Friday 24 April paper review can be found here.

Saturday 25 April – Sunday 26th April (number of articles mentioning or about trans people)

Total count: 6
Average per day: 3

• Times 1

• Guardian 1

• Observer 0

• Sunday Life 0

• Mail 1

• Telegraph 2

• The National 1

• The Herald 0

Times (1)

Overdiagnosis of children is getting dangerous, by Laura Freeman, standing in for Janice Turner (25 April)

Subhead: When a doctor suggested our three-year-old might have ‘sensory processing disorder’ I began to fear for all youngsters

• Passing mention in an article using the anti-trans playbook against neurodivergent kids: “And what has instant, checklist diagnosis meant for children and the parents of those children who say they don’t feel like a girl or don’t feel like a boy? It’s one thing for me to query SPD, far harder for a mother to challenge the dogma of trans.

The Guardian (1)

New chair of Stonewall ‘truly sorry’ after praising JK Rowling, by Helen Pidd (25 April)

• Following up on her article on the incoming Stonewall chair, Kezia Dugdale (see this edition of Trans Agenda for more on that), Helen Pidd is back with Stonewall’s non-apology apology. Pidd also writes, “In the National, the trans writer Steph Paton accused Dugdale of launching herself into her role “with a commitment to making Stonewall even more toothless and irrelevant than it was already”.” It’s worth remembering that Dugdale was asked specifically about JKR’s views on trans people and responded with gushing praise for the author. For her to then turnaround and say “I should have been absolutely unequivocal that I would never condone behaviour from anyone that seeks to or causes harm to anyone in our community” is just a further insult to everybody’s intelligence.

Mail [inc Scottish & Irish editions] (1)

Why Keira is going back to school DOCTOR: CAMHS CAUSED SYSTEMIC HOMICIDE OF KIDS, by Michael O’Farrell (Irish Mail on Sunday front page, 26 April)

• An Irish Mail on Sunday interview with Dr Maya Sharma, who is trans and claims to be homeless in London after ‘whistleblowing’ regarding alleged abuses in CAMHS in Ireland. The Mail write, “Dr Sharma has been cred­ited with sav­ing chil­dren’s lives by expos­ing hor­rific prac­tices at the Child and Adoles­cent Men­tal Health Ser­vice (CAMHS) in Kerry.” The article deadnames Dr Sharma for no reason, although they do use the correct pronouns.

Telegraph (2)

Rowling takes on SNP over prison sex assault, by The Telegraph (25 April)

• Full NiB text: “JK Rowling has offered to help a female inmate sue the SNP government after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a transgender murderer. Alexandria Stewart, who was previously known as REDACTED, has been accused of assaulting an inmate in the hairdressing salon at the female-only wing of HMP Greenock. The Harry Potter author said the Scottish government was responsible, accusing the SNP of flouting the Supreme Court’s ruling a year ago that “confirmed women’s right to single sex spaces” in prisons. Police said a 38-year-old prisoner was arrested and charged in connection with an assault.”

Marathon choir silenced over gender critic row, by Craig Simpson (25 April)

Subhead: Charity cancels singers who raise runners’ spirits owing to one’s views on trans self-identification

• As you can read below in ‘Notes’, the ban was lifted less than 24 hours after this article. The ‘one’ is the founder, Janet Murray, and from her comments, also below, she’s not the only GC in the choir.

The National (1)

Letter

• Brian Forsyth (who?) writes to complain that his nonsense views on trans people were not reflected properly by Tim Hopkins, who wrote in to challenge Forstyth’s previous comments on trans people, which I assume were just as stupid as this latest instalment. “Mr Hop­kins claims I wrote “that a les­bian asso­ci­ation should be allowed leg­ally to exclude trans women who are les­bi­ans”. I expressed no such view,” he writes after demanding a right to reply. “My point was simply that blocking the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill left trans-identified people’s legal protections intact while avoiding further confusion where the rights of women, lesbians and gay men depend on sex being understood coherently.” He didn’t stop there, going on about ‘trans-identified males’, but I’m going to.

Notes

• After an article last week in the Mail by Nadine Dorries extolling the virtues of testosterone for cis women, another article, this time from a Dr, warns against T use for women. The interesting part is that the Dr notes that “prescriptions have risen 800 per cent in the past five years,” before going on to warn about some pretty common side-effects of the hormone. Of course, if you are a trans man, the truth is you will likely have to wait at least five years (if you’re lucky), just to be seen by a doctor, never mind getting a prescription for T, which requires you see a specialist. Cis people have no such restrictions.

• According to a Sunday Telegraph NiB (News in Brief), the choir that was banned from performing at the London Marathon because of the gender critical views of their founder, was reinstated because they claimed their views were protected by the Equality Act. They are not. The choir, known as The Singing Striders, was founded by Janet Murray, who said, “While this is a win, the distress caused by this situation has taken its toll. At present, only one fellow choir member has said they feel comfortable performing [at the marathon].”

• A few articles in the Mail and Telegraph this weekend show clearly how they are repurposing their attacks on trans kids to go after neurodivergent kids.
  Examples of headlines:
  – Overdiagnosis of children is getting dangerous, Laura Freeman, Telegraph, 25 April
  – REVEALED: The healthcare fat cats making a fortune from the balooning ADHD ‘crisis’, by Miles Dilworth, Mail on Sunday, 26 April

---

END