7am The outdated trans study still doing damage
Jan 24, 2026
Mon Schafter, Walkley Award-winning journalist and founding editor of ABC Queer, digs into a 1970s psychiatric study on transgender kids and its long shadow. Short, sharp storytelling traces the study’s methods, how survivors were treated, and the surprising ways that outdated research is still cited in courts and policy debates today.
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Old Study Framed Trans Identity As Treatable
- A 1987 Medical Journal of Australia paper reported treating "gender disordered" children by isolating them from parents to change cross-gender behaviour.
- The study assumed parental influence and claimed psychotherapy could 'cure' gender nonconformity, reflecting outdated medical views.
Decades-Old Research Resurfaces In Modern Debates
- The Kosky paper is still cited internationally in courts and policy debates opposing gender-affirming care.
- Activists and some medical bodies reuse this outdated evidence to argue gender nonconformity stems from psychological or family influence.
Childhood Hospitalisation And Forced Gender Policing
- Jane was admitted to Stubbs Terrace in 1975 and kept nearly six months despite being told two weeks.
- Staff monitored clothing, forced gendered activities, and she suppressed her gender to secure release.