Will the investigation into WPATH, for false marketing of gender dysphoria treatment, mark the end of their 2028 conference in Auckland NZ?

It will be a good day if the investigation into WPATH proves to be a mortal blow.

I recently wrote about the announcement from WPATH – World Professional Assn for Transgender Health – that their 2028 symposium is planned to be held in Auckland NZ. The promotional video of Auckland on WPATH’s website had the logos of Tourism NZ and the Auckland Convention Bureau on it.

These two organisations are in the business of bringing in money, so I didn’t expect that they would have too many scruples about who they promoted and/or provided a service to – as long it wasn’t for a gender critical conference, presumably. It wouldn’t come as too much of a shock if they suddenly found they did indeed have some ‘scruples’ for that.

To digress a little on the matter of businesses suddenly finding they have scruples, I remember when a security firm called First Contact pulled out of providing security for the Let Women Speak rally (subsequently abandoned) in Wellington in March 2023. In the email which the managing director sent withdrawing their services, he said: “I believe your guest speaker poses a real and serious threat to my staff’s welfare, and her values do not align with my company.” That was Kellie-Jay Keen he was talking about. If First Contact’s past and present client list was examined, would we find it interesting to see just what and who their values do align with?

Back to WPATH. It has come to light that the US Federal Trade Commission is investigating WPATH to see if they have made “false or unsubstantiated claims related to the marketing or advertising of pediatric gender dysphoria treatment”.

WPATH have lodged a 76-page “Petition to Quash the United States Federal Trade Commission’s Civil Investigative Demand”. From what I understand, it’s a normal tactic to swamp one’s legal adversary with documentation, just to annoy them and make their job more onerous.

I haven’t read WPATH’s petition – I’m not that strong – but a very quick flick through showed that pages 50 and 51 note how awful some people have been to them. Quelle surprise! I’m surmising this is all part of a piteous claim that the investigation is simply a persecution of them, and nothing to do with the fact that WPATH has been ruthless about promoting dodgy ‘gender affirming’ treatment to disturbed and vulnerable kids.

The petition also asserts on page 2 that “the FTC lacks authority to issue investigative demands against nonprofits like WPATH”. I don’t know if this is true, but if it is, why devote another 74 pages to what must amount to just blurb after that? Perhaps someone more in the know than me could confirm whether or not WPATH is correct with their assertion about the FTC’s authority.

Anyway, I decided that it behoved me, as the responsible citizen I am, to inform Tourism NZ and the Auckland Convention Bureau of their association with an organisation now under investigation by a US federal department.

I have no idea if it will make any impact on these organisations, but any nail in WPATH’s coffin – and hopefully, by extension, also PATHA’s (Professional Assn for Transgender Health Aotearoa (New Zealand)) – is a nail worth hammering. If I get a response from either of them, and that’s a mighty big “if”, I have no doubt it will be one of two things –

1. I’m an evil transphobic bigot.

Or

2. Meaningless corporate patter about their dedication to diversity and inclusion.

To be honest, I’d rather get the former, because at least it would be more entertaining.

• Header photo by Sulthan Auliya on Unsplash