LGBT charity demanding end to puberty blocker ban receives over £800,000 from Scottish councils

Senior MSP criticises ‘highly questionable’ spending as organisation receives multiple six figure payments from cash-strapped boroughs

Scotland’s cash-strapped councils have handed over more than £800,000 to an LGBT children’s charity that is campaigning for a ban on puberty blockers to be lifted.
Figures show that 21 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities paid £835,436 in total to LGBT Youth Scotland, an organisation that runs a schools charter scheme that critics claim pushes anti-scientific ideologies in classrooms, over a three year period.
The funding from councils is in addition to around £450,000 per year the charity receives from the Scottish Government and £150,000 it gets annually from the NHS.
The charity has come under scrutiny following the Cass review into gender identity healthcare for children in England, which led to a ban on puberty blockers because of safety fears and raised doubts over the “affirmative” care model the charity promotes.
LGBT Youth Scotland criticised the review, describing treatments such as puberty blockers as “wonderful” and endorsing “bodily autonomy” for people who identify as trans, including children.
The charity also promotes contested ideas such as the existence of at least 17 genders and that it is possible for a lesbian to have a penis.
Stephen Kerr, the senior Scottish Tory MSP who obtained the figures, called on councils to review the “out of control” spending.
“Throughout Scotland, councils are being forced to make impossible decisions due to cuts by the SNP Scottish Government,” he said. “Yet, many have seen fit to hand over six figure sums to a single charity.
“It is highly questionable this money will be used in the best interest of children and families. LGBT Youth Scotland continues to support puberty blockers, teaches children in schools that there are 40 pronouns, and encourages them to wear ‘pronoun badges’.
“To see such a large sum of money being diverted to a single organisation is outrageous. The out-of-control culture of spend[ing], throughout all levels of government, must be addressed.”
More than half of Scotland secondary schools and at least 40 primary schools are signed up to LGBT Youth Scotland’s charter scheme, which costs money to join and requires staff to be trained by the organisation.
Edinburgh council handed over almost £240,000 to the charity over the three years to April this year. Scottish Borders Council paid out £117,000 while Glasgow paid the organisation £185,000.
Eight councils paid LGBT Youth Scotland nothing while three others did not provide information.
LGBT Youth Scotland declined to comment. It has previously defended its schools charter scheme, saying it helps “to create places that LGBTQ+ young people and staff can flourish and thrive”.