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

Yes good to do research - there clearly are various emerging phenomena here that need further understanding including genuine gender dysphoria. Increase in referrals also for lots of things including mental health, neurodevelopmental conditions ASD/ ADHD etc. However your request for control groups in this situation is not appropriate. Unlikely to get ethical approval. Also you've set up a false dichotomy - affirmation vs mental health care. All gender questioning youth are supposed to have mental health care as part of any pathway, they are not separate approaches. Finally, according to tavistock clinic's figures 2015/16 there were 1012 referrals aged 14-17. Out of a Eng/ Wales population of 2,552,379 = 0.04%. That is not in anyway whatsoever an 'epidemic'.

Brown's behavior is disgusting, but not surprising. Many career administrators in our industry are cowards, looking toward their next job. Must bow to the crybullies.

As someone who identified as transgender for over 6 years, but now does not, I implore you to encourage research, critique, and growth, instead of bowing to social groups which would discourage education to further an agenda.

Dr. Littman's research is important. R o g d has seen an exponential increase, and appears to be an epidemic. This may turn out not to be the case, but the way to settle this question is through research. Including Dr. Littman's research, and follow on Research from that. Quashing scientific inquiry, because certain activists do not like its conclusions, is antithetical to the The proud tradition of intellectual inquiry that Brown University is known for. I urge you to reconsider your previous decision to pull Dr. Littman's research, and hope that Brown will stand for freethought and inquiry, as it always has in the past.

Pediatric Surgeon

The Soviets suppressed genetic research for decades. Let's not imitate them in political repression of research.

I support free and open debate and research.

Freedom of speech and the truth are the highest of all values and ideals. Nothing surpasses them. The only way to solve problems is to identify them and speak about them. Thank you.

We need to understand what is happening. If it is well designed study in accord with the commonly accepted method and with enough participants, such research should go forward and be widely shared. There is as yet no scientific basis for gender dysphoria. In this specific case, is it due to peer influence? Are there some physiological changes taking place initiated by pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and/or other pollutants in our food, water, and air that may be contributing to this condition at the time of puberty? Are some humans evolving differently now in response to the changed physical environment or is it a social phenomenon? Again, we need to know. It is an act of stupidity and cowardice to shut such research down.

Research that challenges consensus is the most important to have done excellently and transparently. Encouraging that requires institutional and broad support. Creating large enough pools of solid research to enhance understanding of the many, complex forces at work in gender dysphoria must certainly be a worthwhile aim for those who care about the health and wellbeing of those who experience it. That many of these are adolescent only increases the responsibility of developmentally mature adults to learn more about the spectrum of issues that may be involved and affect the outcomes of those who transition. I support careful research, even as—perhaps especially as— it highlights less-investigated factors that may prove deserving of further inquiry.

Shame on Brown "University"

The very purpose of a university is to support research and protect researchers. Brown removed a link referencing Dr. Littman's research out of political PC fear. Science is not a conspiracy. Science comes from testing models against evidence. The removal of a citation to scientific research, however, is a conspiracy: a conspiracy of cowardice. You wusses.

Open inquiry and debate is the single most vital attribute of an intellectual community. Stifle that, and a university might as well shut down.

Don’t be bullied into spliting from actual science.

I don't know if this research will support the hypothesis or not. But it makes sense to look into it. Research is good. Ignorance is bad.

We need more research like this on all sides!

Academic research is supposedly neutral and female/male researchers always provide detailed evidence supporting their findings yet women-hating males have succeeded once again in silencing a female academic because her findings do not accord with mens' lie concerning 'trans!' Only reason Browns University have refused to permit Dr. Littman's research findings be published is because women-hating males are using their political power to deny female academics their female sex right to publish research which contradicts mens' myth of 'trans!' There is clearly a financial motive behind all these women-hating male attacks on female research which focuses on 'mens' myth of trans' and that is to finally silence all women and maintain male fiction that biological males can magically morph into females!

Intersexed human here. Wait until the kid knows what s/he wants. Then no hormones until after 12-14 yrs, surgery after 16. Though harvest the eggs & sperm before surgery for kids later.

My country once prohibited science that didn't fit its politics. Never Again.