21 October 2026
LGB Alliance NZ is deeply disappointed by today's High Court ruling overturning the Government's restrictions on puberty blockers for children.
While the Court found inadequate consultation and unlawful discrimination, it also accepted that the Minister had rational grounds for restricting these drugs, particularly given the poor quality of evidence and findings of the Cass Review.
However, we question the discrimination reasoning. The Court recognised that treating precocious puberty differs from suppressing normal development, yet compared prescribing for gender dysphoria with treating physiological conditions such as endometriosis.
Using the same medication doesn't make different medical conditions clinically comparable, nor does restricting its use for one condition automatically constitute unlawful discrimination.
The judgment doesn't resolve the scientific uncertainties surrounding puberty blockers, including their long-term consequences for children who may subsequently desist or detransition. Children must be free to grow up and reach adulthood without factors such as sex-stereotype nonconformity, emerging same-sex attraction, autism or trauma being medicalised through a contested gender-identity framework.
LGB Alliance NZ supports a Government appeal, particularly concerning the findings on discrimination and proportionality, and urges the Government to pursue lawful safeguards that protect New Zealand children's health and the future.
