Decades-old 'conversion therapy' resurfaces in today's trans youth healthcare debate | 7.30

Key Concepts

• 1987 Robert Kossky Report
• Conversion Therapy
• Gender-Affirming Care
• Gender Nonconformity
• Stubs Terrace Children Psychiatric Hospital
• Jane McFaden
• Dr. Ana Ravine
• Misinformation in medical literature

The Resurgence of a Decades-Old Report and its Harmful Implications

The video highlights a concerning global trend of rising anti-trans rhetoric and legislative actions, such as the "bombshell ban" affecting trans teenagers in Queensland. Dr. Ana Ravine, a specialist in transgender youth health and well-being, discovered that decisions impacting trans youth today are being shaped by decades-old studies. Specifically, a 38-year-old paper from 1987, published in Australia, has regained prominence.

This 1987 report, authored by Dr. Robert Kossky (then WA's director of child and adolescent psychiatry services), detailed a "little-known treatment program" for "trans and gender diverse children" that ran from 1975 to 1980 at a state-funded psychiatric hospital in Perth. The children were referred to as "gender disordered children," with an implicit expectation that their gender identity would "return to what was expected." This approach is explicitly defined as "conversion therapy."

The report is currently being "cited favorably by opponents of gender affirming care" in various influential contexts, including submissions to lawmakers, US courts, and medical regulators worldwide. Even in Australia, the National Association of Practicing Psychiatrists has cited this paper in a clinical guide on how doctors should care for gender diverse youth. The video emphasizes that conversion therapy is illegal in many parts of the country and is known to cause "long-term psychological scars," making it "very harmful."

The 1987 Report's Methodology and Jane McFaden's Experience

Dr. Kossky's 1987 report posited that children's "gender nonconformity was influenced by their parents." The prescribed "treatment" involved separating children from their parents. The report referenced the experiences of "eight primary school age children" who were hospitalized "one at a time for up to 6 months."

38 years later, Dr. Ana Ravine believes she identified one of these children: Jane McFaden. Jane was admitted to the Stubs Terrace Children Psychiatric Hospital in Perth in 1975 when she was 10 years old. Her admission sheet explicitly stated the reason: "to stop me from being transexual in adolescence."

Jane's personal account details the coercive and invasive nature of her hospitalization:

• She was subjected to "random checks of my clothing" to ensure she wasn't wearing any "female underclo."
• She was forced to urinate standing up, with the cubicle door open, so staff "could check that I wasn't just sitting down to pee, that I actually stood like a boy and urinated."
• Despite the report's claim that "no conscious chunk was blamed by staff members to encourage masculine or feminine role behaviors," Jane refutes this, stating she always felt her body was "wrong" and her mother, not knowing what else to do, sought medical advice after finding her in "girl clothing."

After nearly 6 months of hospitalization, Jane was discharged. She "suppressed my sense of gender so far down cuz I was worried that I would be sent back to the psych hospital." The study followed up on her one year later and again when she was 18, noting "Crossdressing recurred 3 years previously but stopped to its own accord."

It took Jane 22 years after her discharge to finally come out. During this time, she fell in love and started a family. However, she later suffered "quite a major depression," contemplating "suicide" or "transition." She chose to transition, which led to her feeling "a lot lighter in myself that I could finally see myself being who I always believed myself to be."

Jane, now 60, identified her experience with "case study 5" in Dr. Kossky's report, as her hospital admission and medical records (10 male, wanted to be a girl, cross-dressing) align perfectly. Dr. Ravine finds it "deeply troubling" and "very surprising if they haven't had similar life experiences as Jane" for the other children mentioned in the report.

Critique and Call for Awareness

Jane, Dr. Ana Ravine, and a team of researchers have co-authored a critique of Dr. Robert Kossky's 1987 report. Ahead of its release, they revisited the site of the Stubs Terrace facility. Jane reflected on the irony that the original report claimed to have "cured" her, yet she was still trans.

The critique has been published in the Medical Journal of Australia. Dr. Ravine stresses the importance for "lawmakers, the courts and policy makers to be aware of this report and to understand that past reports like this are really in the category of misinformation." Dr. Robert Kossky, the author of the 1987 paper, declined to comment.

Through her journey, Jane's wife, Deb, has been a constant support. They remarried in 2019, with Deb noting that while Jane's "outer shell was different, but intrinsically she was still the same person." Jane now states, "I absolutely feel good in my skin now. I know who I am. I'm Jane. That is it." The video concludes by offering support resources, specifically Lifeline on 131 114.

Conclusion

This detailed account reveals how outdated and harmful "conversion therapy" practices, documented in a 1987 Australian medical report, are being resurrected and used to justify anti-trans policies and rhetoric today. The personal testimony of Jane McFaden vividly illustrates the profound and lasting psychological damage inflicted by such interventions, which aimed to suppress rather than affirm gender identity. The new critique of this historical report serves as a critical warning to policymakers and medical professionals, emphasizing the need to recognize and reject such "misinformation" to protect the well-being of transgender and gender diverse youth.