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David Bell vs. transgender people

David Bell is a British psychiatrist and anti-transgender activist. Bell is a key figure in getting the UK’s Tavistock gender clinic for youth closed.

Background

David Bell was born in ~1950. According to an Institute of Psychoanalysis profile:

A training analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society who served as its President from 2010 to 2012, Bell is a Consultant Psychiatrist in the Adult Department at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where he was Director of Postgraduate Training for many years and leads a specialist service (the Fitzjohns Unit) for the treatment of patients with enduring and complex problems. He was the 2012-13 Professorial Fellow at Birkbeck College and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at University College London

Anti-trans activism

Bell is a member of anti-trans group Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender.

In 2020, Bell crowdfunded over £15,000, noting “David Bell is seeking legal advice regarding disciplinary proceedings which the Tavistock and Portman Trust has instituted against him in connection with his speaking and writing on the subject of Gender Dysphoria.”

Bell presented at a 2024 anti-trans conference in France organized by Observatoire la Petite Sirène and Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.

Bell contributed a foreword to the anti-trans book Inventing Transgender Children and Young People edited by Heather Brunskell Evans and Michele Moore.

According to a 2021 report in The Guardian:

Bell, a distinguished psychiatrist and practising psychoanalyst, is the doctor who in 2018 wrote a controversial report about the activities of the gender identity development service (GIDS), a clinic at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust in north London, where he worked in adult services from 1995 until his retirement earlier this year. GIDS, the only clinic of its kind in England, specialises in treating children with gender identity issues and in recent months has been in the news even more than usual. Last December, a judgment by the high court ruled that those under the age of 16 were unlikely to be mature enough to give informed consent to the prescription of puberty blockers (such drugs delay the development of secondary sex characteristics in patients, in theory enabling children more easily to transition into their desired gender identity as an adult). This ruling, the result of a judicial review brought by 23-year-old Keira Bell – born female, she was prescribed blockers by GIDS at 16 and now regrets her transition – has effectively curtailed medical intervention for children with gender dysphoria. (The Tavistock is to appeal; the case will be heard in June. David Bell will be what is technically called an intervenor in the appeal, which means he can give evidence.)

References

Fox, Aine (April 7, 2024). Tavistock whistleblower ‘had no alternative’ but to raise concerns. The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/nhs-england-england-liverpool-great-ormond-street-hospital-b2524683.html

Cooke, Rachel (May 2, 2021). Tavistock trust whistleblower David Bell: ‘I believed I was doing the right thing.’ The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/02/tavistock-trust-whistleblower-david-bell-transgender-children-gids

Doward, Jamie (November 3, 2018). Gender identity clinic accused of fast-tracking young adults. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/03/tavistock-centre-gender-identity-clinic-accused-fast-tracking-young-adults

Blass RB (2020). Introduction to “Can we think psychoanalytically about transgenderism?” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 101(5), 1014–1018. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207578.2020.1818967

Doward, Jamie (February 23, 2019). Governor of Tavistock Foundation quits over damning report into gender identity clinic. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/23/child-transgender-service-governor-quits-chaos

Doward, Jamie (November 3, 2018). Gender identity clinic accused of fast-tracking young adults. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/03/tavistock-centre-gender-identity-clinic-accused-fast-tracking-young-adults

Selected anti-trans writings by Bell

Bell, David (March 6, 2025). Why I’m sounding the alarm on the next puberty blockers scandal. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/06/why-im-sounding-the-alarm-on-the-next-trans-scandal/

Bell, David (April 26, 2024). The Cass review of gender identity services marks a return to reason and evidence – it must be defended. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/26/cass-review-gender-identity-services-report

Bell, David (March 5, 2024). Down the primrose WPATH: Responsible medical authorities must reject the dangerous nonsense of gender-affirming care. The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/the-primrose-wpath/

Bell, David (January 27, 2023). Gender identity treatment needs greater caution. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/27/gender-identity-treatment-needs-greater-caution

Bell, David (2023). Dr David Bell on the risks to children and young people of a “conversion practices” ban. Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender https://can-sg.org/dr-david-bell/

(May 2, 2021). Tavistock trust whistleblower David Bell: ‘I believed I was doing the right thing.’ The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/02/tavistock-trust-whistleblower-david-bell-transgender-children-gids

Bell D (2020). First do no harm. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 101(5), 1031–1038. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207578.2020.1810885

Media

The Telegraph (March 6, 2025). Exclusive: NHS puberty blocker whistleblower ‘Would you allow your child to be experimented on?’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG75tkJpgGc

The Free Speech Union with Sue Evans, David Bell, Michele Moore, Michael Biggs, and Stephanie Davies-Arai (July 11, 2024). After the Cass Review: Lessons for Free Speech from the Tavistock and Beyond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtqA51-6ML4

Maanvis (July 2, 2024). Paris Trans Healhcare Conference – David Bell about the tavistock and gender ideology in the UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nLXGShabnA

Sex Reality Bites (April 12, 2024). ANOTHER EXPERT says STOP Gender Affirming Care + Puberty Blockers – David Bell on Cass Report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYjdu3PNv24

Times Radio (April 10, 2024). Puberty blockers have ‘seriously damaged generations of children’ | Tavistock whistleblower. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLjC7FLXMC0

Sky News (April 10, 2024). Affirming a child’s wish to change gender ‘completely wrong’ – Dr David Bell | Cass review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Nhqf2vppw

The Daily T with Camilla Tominey and Kamal Ahmed (March 6). NHS whistleblower: Trans puberty blocker trial must be stopped. The Telegraph https://shows.acast.com/658300edbbd71a00174fea51/episodes/67c9cb2bffae9c0f4e1743ba?

Savage Minds (April 22, 2023). David Bell S3E11. https://savageminds.substack.com/p/david-bell-6cd

Gender: A Wider Lens (October 14, 2022). EPISODE 91 – Uncovering the GIDS Disaster: Dr David Bell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGjDmEYat2w

Genspect (August 16, 2022). Dr David Bell – ‘the collapse of gender medicine into customership.’ 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIVwPFcGYJM

Resources

Institute of Psychoanalysis (psychoanalysis.org.uk)

  • David Bell
  • psychoanalysis.org.uk/our-authors-and-theorists/david-bell

UCL Psychoanalysis (ucl.ac.uk/psychoanalysis)

  • David Bell
  • ucl.ac.uk/psychoanalysis/people/david-bell

The Critic (thecritic.co.uk)

CrowdJustice (crowdjustice.com)