FDNHSA has noted the statement issued by Helen Zille on 23 April 2025 and posted on Facebook, in which she voiced her support for the recent findings of the UK Supreme Court.
Members of FDNHSA are also encouraged by the outcome of the UK Supreme Court, handed down on 16 April 2025. What this extremely consequential judgement makes clear is that sex means biological sex, and that a woman is a biological female. This is a landmark judgement which is likely to have far reaching consequences. In effect, the UK court has ruled that sex means exactly what most people thought it did, before a wholesale onslaught by transgender ideologues on language and women’s rights. It is now clear that men who call themselves “trans women” or “women” are not legally women in terms of the 2010 Equality Act, and that sex is not determined on the basis of “gender identity”. It is encouraging that the international tide seems to be turning and reality is again being acknowledged and restored.
We would like to clarify that transgender ideation should not be conflated with being lesbian, gay or bisexual, and it has become clear that the approach of medicalising minors with gender related confusion or distress with puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries does great harm to people who otherwise would likely have grown up as heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian adults with resolved gender-related distress. Adolescents and vulnerable adults similarly need appropriate safeguards. We believe that all people, including those who are lesbian, gay and bisexual, as well as people who identify as transgender, should be supported and not be marginalised or discriminated against.
We agree that sex is binary and cannot be changed, and we share concerns about the life-long medical harms caused by “gender affirming care”, which is being promoted by various activist clinicians, doctors and lobbyists in South Africa. We applaud Helen Zille’s courage in making this public statement, at a time when saying anything publicly about this complex and controversial issue can have deleterious consequences for the person or organization concerned, whether in the Global North or South Africa. The transgender lobby in South Africa is extremely active and quick to respond to anything which challenges their beliefs on sex and gender, usually in a way that raises the emotional temperature of the discussion and deliberately targets anyone who does not adhere to transgender orthodoxy.
We appreciate Helen Zille’s calm, considered and thoughtful approach to this complex issue, including her support of FDNHSA. Members of FDNHSA have experienced how difficult it is to communicate a reasoned response to the issue of “gender affirming care” even when based on the most recent scientific evidence, and in opposition to the “affirmative only” approach espoused by transgender activists for the care of gender questioning children and adolescents. Several FDNHSA members who have authored articles published in both the mainstream media and medical journals, have been reported to the HPCSA by transgender activist organizations, in an attempt to intimidate individual doctors for raising this issue in the public domain.
FDNHSA is concerned that the Democratic Alliance-led provincial government in the Western Cape has supported transgender ideological approaches in schools, universities, and the health department. FDNHSA has engaged with various stakeholders in these departments, and it is clear that they are responsive to, and under the influence of, trans activists and organizations, such as PATHSA (who have actively promoted the transitioning and medicalisation of vulnerable children, adolescents and adults with gender related confusion or distress), GenderDynamix, and others. The DA will have to take a stand on this issue at some point and it is likely that the majority of voters would appreciate the restoration of reality regarding sex and gender, based on scientific evidence and biological reality. The implications of confusing sex and gender for children at school, students at higher education institutions and in the general population, are very significant, and can undermine the safety of women-only spaces.
Until now, FDNHSA has been the only voice speaking out publicly for the safeguarding of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria. It is time for more medical doctors, academics and political leaders to show courage and provide leadership and clarity on this issue.