Family Court Lifts Anonymity in Gender Medicine Case, Prompting National Call to Action
LGB Alliance Australia welcomes the decision by Justice Andrew Strum to vary the pseudonym order in a Family Law Court judgment, allowing the identification of Dr Michelle Telfer and the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH). The original decision, delivered in April 2025, found that the medicalised treatment pathway proposed for a 12-year-old child was inappropriate and not in the child’s best interests. The Court was highly critical of expert evidence provided by Dr Telfer.
RCH has played a prominent and instrumental role in the development of gender medicine in Australia. Its Gender Service has led clinical practice nationwide, and Dr Telfer and colleagues authored the widely used Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines. However, the Family Court found that the expert lacked clinical independence, adopted an advocate’s stance, and failed to properly assess the child’s individual needs.
The Court heard medical evidence about the likely consequences of initiating puberty blockers and progressing to cross-sex hormones. Almost all children who commence puberty blockers progress to gender-affirming hormones.
The Court heard that:
The penis will never grow or mature
The testes will remain undeveloped
The child will be sterile
Fertility preservation will not be possible
The child will have no sexual function and will be unable to orgasm (on growing up)
There will likely be bone thinning due to impaired bone density development
The effects on brain development are unknown
Cross-sex hormones significantly increase the risk of:
Stroke (7-fold)
Heart attack (6-fold)
Pulmonary embolism (5-fold)
Male breast cancer (46-fold, though rare)
If a replication of a vagina is desired, use of bowel tissue may be required due to lack of penile/scrotal tissue
Such surgery carries high complication rates (Para 178 [2025] FedCFamC1F 211)
These are not affirming outcomes - they are serious, irreversible harms.
This evidence is deeply alarming. It highlights the urgent need for systemic change in how gender-related distress is managed in children and adolescents.
We thank Justice Strum for recognising the overwhelming public interest in naming the hospital and expert. We also thank The Australian for pursuing the truth on behalf of vulnerable children. We thank Bernard Lane and Ellie Dudley for excellence in journalism.
Whilst the Federal Government has commissioned a national inquiry through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the final report is not expected until mid-2026. In the meantime, children remain at risk.
Every State and Territory in Australia must act now to prevent further harm.
LGB Alliance Australia is particularly concerned that many gender-questioning youth are, in fact, lesbian, gay or bisexual - and are being placed on irreversible medical pathways because they do not conform to outdated gender stereotypes. This entire model rests on regressive assumptions that should have no place in modern healthcare.
Many members of LGB Alliance Australia were themselves gender non-conforming children. We understand the distress that can accompany adolescence, and we stand as proof that time, support, and understanding - not irreversible interventions - can offer a better path. This is personal for us.
LGB Alliance Australia calls for:
An immediate, nationwide halt to puberty blockers for minors
Fast-tracking of the NHMRC review
Immediate support and care for those who detransition
Legal protection for clinicians offering exploratory, non-ideological therapy
Evidence-based treatment guidelines developed by health professionals, free from ideology
Recognition that many gender-questioning youth are lesbian, gay or bisexual - and deserve support and care not sterilisation
LGB Alliance
LGB Alliance Australia is a branch of the non-partisan worldwide network LGB International. We are Australia’s largest organisation that is dedicated solely to advocating for the rights of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals; we have members from all over Australia and are incorporated in NSW.
LGB Alliance Australia was formed in response to concerns that legacy ‘LGBTQ+’ organisations are failing to represent the interests of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.