23. "[Matt Barber] said the vast majority of GPs in Australia have little understanding in this space, which is why people seek out 'gender affirming' doctors."

This seems like it's supposed to at least allow the interpretation that Barber is an arrogant egotist, but it's actually just uncontroversially true. While actual useful data regarding practitioner competence in trans care is thinner on the ground than I would like, the little that exists isn't promising. By way of example,

* Davidge-Pitts et al. (2017) [1] found that in a sample of 411 practitioners in the so-called United States who were members of the #EndocrineSociety, the proportion who said they'd never received training in trans healthcare was circa 81%.

* Christopherson et al. (2022) [2] found that of a sample of 188 GPs and nurse practitioners working with trans patients in #Saskatchewan, so-called Canada, in 2019, the proportion who felt comfortable providing transition-related medical care was 30%.

* Irwig et al. (2016) [3] found that among endocrinologists attending an American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (#AACE) conference, the fraction able to answer a fairly basic knowledge question about trans endocrine care was an eye-watering **5%** (!!).

If anything, Barber is being charitable in postulating that Australian doctors have even as much as "little" understanding. Statistically, it's likely closer to "fuck-all".

SECTION NOTES

[1] https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/102/4/1286/2884622

[2] https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/trgh.2020.0181

[3] https://www.endocrinepractice.org/article/S1530-891X(20)39209-0/fulltext