The French high authority for health, which has been working on transgender issues since 2022, has published its recommendations, which exclude minors—a victory for those who work tirelessly to protect children from transgender madness.
Three years ago, the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), an independent public authority responsible for advising the state on health issues based on scientific recommendations, launched a working group on the “medical transition pathway for transgender people.” There was every reason for concern, as Le Figaro had pointed out that the group in question was overwhelmingly composed of trans people, members of trans activist associations, or health professionals closely aligned with the trans lobby, to the exclusion of other organisations that could have provided a different and more measured perspective.
On Friday, July 18th, the HAS published a document outlining its initial recommendations for adults—while excluding minors “due to a lack of consensus.”
In its provisional version, which was partially leaked to the press at the end of 2024, the report was expected to contain recommendations for minors aged 16 to 18, but this section was ultimately removed shortly before the document was published.
Only adults are therefore covered by the report, which lists 152 recommendations aimed at “ensuring safe and high-quality care” for people wishing to transition, particularly to address disparities in care observed across the country. The overall tone of the document aims to encourage kindness and non-judgemental attitudes towards trans people, for example, in the use of first names and pronouns requested by patients, regardless of their physical transition, even though, for the time being, transition based on self-declaration is not yet recognised in France, as it must be done through a legal procedure.
Contrary to the first version of the report, the HAS has introduced precautionary measures to alert people wishing to transition to the long-term consequences of their decision. Practitioners will have complete discretion to “impose (and not simply propose) a reasonable reflection period” when a patient is about to undergo surgery or irreversible hormone therapy.
The HAS does not comment on the coverage of medical procedures related to gender transition by the French social security system. In the preamble to the report, the president of the HAS acknowledges the paradox: he welcomes the fact that “gender incongruence” (another term for gender dysphoria) is no longer considered a mental disorder in France and that, at the same time, the transition is covered by health insurance as a “long-term condition”. Nevertheless, the person on the working committee responsible for the recommendations notes that trans people are more prone to “mental disorders”—generally neurodevelopmental disorders and autism spectrum disorders.
Trans activist associations criticise the timidity of the recommendations concerning minors and denounce the “pressure” allegedly exerted on the HAS during the preparation of the report.
While this first step sends a clear positive signal, caution remains the order of the day for the next steps. In 2026, specific work on minors is due to begin, and for the moment, the HAS does not seem to have fully grasped the scandals that have occurred abroad and the reports warning of the dangers of gender transition for minors, such as the Cass review published in England after the Tavistock clinic affair.
