Colin Perkins

Safeguarding Officer in the Church of England. Dog owner and rugby fan. Most views borrowed; responsibility for expressing them mine.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@BellaWallerstei That may be true, but it is worth looking at Gillick competence in this area and its implications: https://t.co/wMH1j3iiU0

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@zombiestyled When have I suggested that? Read through all my posts, and please give a specific quote.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@annelilort I agree, but you are now making a moral, not a scientific, argument, based upon a moral framework and set of values, which is my point.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@edibletom But it does require debate and a defence of that particular moral position. The proposal is that politicians should legislate to prevent doctors even from conducting a clinical trial. The need to debate ideology is inescapable.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@Fudds13 But what about the medical treatment that we are talking about here? Hormonal or even surgical treatment? If you’re just following the science, and the science says sex-change is impossible, would you ban that for everyone?

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@HodsonAnn So if this is purely about biology, would you oppose medical treatment for trans people of any age?

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@Fudds13 So, would you oppose medical treatment for trans people of any age?

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@HodsonAnn @iaini10 @KemiBadenoch In what way?

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@annelilort @KemiBadenoch OK, but on the argument you’ve just set out, would you oppose medical treatment for trans people of any age?

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@zombiestyled @KemiBadenoch I have made no such claim. I am asking you to take the principle you set out (“nature doesn’t make mistakes”) and apply it with consistency.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@HodsonAnn @zombiestyled @KemiBadenoch It is relevant to the statement “nature doesn’t make mistakes”, which is what I was responding to, particularly when that statement is adduced (as here) as grounds for opposing medical treatment.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@lunettaporchett @KemiBadenoch On the point of whether children can consent, you should probably also research Gillick competence. The legal position is not as clear as you suggest.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@lunettaporchett @KemiBadenoch That may be correct, but you are now setting out a *moral* argument, based on an ideological position. I may well agree with you, but in a democracy all such arguments are open to proper debate, and debate is easier when all sides acknowledge their ideological foundations.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@edibletom @KemiBadenoch You may be correct in every word you have written above. I may well agree with you. But you have just set out…very eloquently…a *moral*, rather than purely scientific, argument, which is open to debate on moral grounds. No need to shy away from that: ideology is fine.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@Foucaulttodo @KemiBadenoch So, if that is your position, would you oppose any medical treatment for trans people of *any* age? Do you suggest that Parliament should legislate to ban all such treatment??

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@helensaxby11 @KemiBadenoch Of course it is ideologically driven. I have not argued equivalence. I am pointing out that *any* position in this debate is ideological and therefore requires defending. No one can put themselves beyond that, no matter how much they claim to be following the science.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@lunettaporchett @KemiBadenoch Of course that is correct. But it is ideological to call these trials, without qualification, child abuse. That may be correct, but it’s a fallacy to say that only one side is driven by ideology. This is not a fight between science and ideology, but between competing ideologies.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@YorkshirePad He’s from Liverpool.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@lunettaporchett @KemiBadenoch You are making a moral, and therefore ideological, argument, which demonstrates my point.

[Colin Perkins @cbperkinscb]

@DrunkenOcto @KemiBadenoch Yes, her position is ‘moral’…and therefore ideological. That’s my point.