Brown University and PLoS ONE: Defend academic freedom and scientific inquiry

"This kind of anti-transgender hate speech is harmful to us." Is it really hate speech if it is accurate to reality? You can't call it "hate speech" and "harmful" if you don't have the proof to debunk it. Follow-up studies can confirm or deny this. This is how scientific integrity is preserved and kept out of emotional reactions and feelings. Science is about reaching an objective explanation of reality. It is scientific freedom to conduct any kind of study as long as it is ethical. Let's not polarize science and keep it free.

My daughter, having previously been confident in her body, is now swept up in this. Authorities do nothing but affirm her beliefs. They are going to destroy a perfectly good body with a tormented mind. Fix the mind, do not surgically alter the body and send on a life long path of medication.

Facts is not political.

I think it's essential that a fact based discussion needs to be had to understand this very worrying change in young people's behaviour. As a scientist the discrediting of fact and creation of false 'truths' is also very worrying.

Universities should be places of free thought and academic freedom. Academic enquiry should never ever be suppressed, especially when it has the potential to stop irreparable harm to a generation of vulnerable young people, mostly - as usual - young females.

Women and Equalities Committee in UK have just ordered an inquiry into RODG https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/inquiry-into-surge-in-gender-treatment-ordered-by-penny-mordaunt-b2ftz9hfn?shareToken=8d952c84d7a5e63571f0e526f274275f

PLoS One is a peer-reviewed journal. Darwin's publication was controversial as well, yet its publication has led to tremendous progress in Biology.

A pillar of Western society is a search for the truth, and universities should be a major force in this search. Really quite a shame what Brown is doing.

Censorship is never to be tolerated, especially at "institutions of higher learning ."

When you suppress valid scientific research for political purposes, you're no longer a scientist, but a propagandist.

Pro rights AND research

If there is freedom of the press then there should be freedom of academic and scientific studies!! Shame on Brown for discrimination!!!

This grieves me that a university would give in to pressure rather that welcome the truth.

This is an important study that deserves the light of day and discussion on its merits, not to be tossed because it doesn't conform to a small group of people's preconceived notions. We are talking about young, impressionable adolescents who have their whole life ahead of them, and the actions they take now will affect their sex lives, their mental and physical health and everything to do with their future! Research done by a psychologist at Johns Hopkins, which was a pioneer in gender reassignment, said that despite reassignment surgery the MAJORITY of those who underwent it did not report a resolution to the issues they used as justification for the surgery. (Think depression, body dysmorphia, relationship issues, etc.) It is vital we understand this condition, wherever that rabbit hole leads. I have several friends with adolescent age kids who are seeing a 'trend' of GD, almost like cutting was a decade prior, and they are struggling to understand as they try to support their children. This topic is too important to allow to languish, subject to whims and political motivations. Science is open - findings are debated, questioned, investigated and the implications argued over. Do not short-circuit that vital conduit to learning and understanding!

Discounting results that are unpopular is not science, it is "science by popular opinion"

For shame Brown University.Why are you afraid of scientific research.?!

It is inexcusable for political forces to be allowed to squelch scientific knowledge about our youth and to intimidate those who have the courage to disseminate it. Individual case studies and descriptive studies have been a valuable part of our body of scientific knowledge for decades; there is nothing new or duplicitous about the scientific methodology. I hope that Brown University and the journal's editorial board will demonstrate some integrity here and ultimately treat this research like any other psychological investigation that seeks to shed light on how best to help the severely distressed among is.

I completely support Littman's valuable exploration into an area of medicine where political ideology seems to be more important than scientific investigation. Censorship is about people who fear the truth. Shame on Brown for bowing to the mentality of the mob.

I am a parent of a child with sudden GD. Luckily this was the UK and he was already in a unit for PTSD related suicidal ideation. As such his trauma issues were front and centre. The doctors are already recognising that trauma is the source of the GD in UK transition clinics. He has been treated for trauma with somatic experiencing therapy (connects mind back to body) and guess what the GD is starting to resolve. Time is up for co-opting highly troubled adolescents to their cause based on a suppression of the evidence. If you are a parent get the trauma therapy first.

Littman's study maps to what we have seen. It was the first to make any kind of sense for youth with NO prior gender confusion indicators. The study opens the door to more research and deserves to be displayed prominently so as to attract more work on this line of inquiry. Despite claims, Brown appears to placating pro-trans groups at the potential expense of youth who could benefit from the study and further research.