A prominent child psychiatrist faces losing her medical licence after speaking out against ‘gender-affirming care’ at a major children’s hospital.

The Queensland Health Ombudsman has referred a complaint against Dr Jillian Spencer to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) which could deregister her or severely restrict her ability to practise.

The action by AHPRA comes after Dr Spencer posted a link on X to a media article where she criticised gender-affirming medical treatment, and revealed her concern about the trans culture at Queensland Children’s Hospital.

The specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry was suspended by the hospital after she spoke out about its gender ward, which she said was ‘oppressive’ and ‘inappropriate’ for children.

The hospital’s Queensland Children’s Gender Service was decorated with Trans Pride flags, celebrated ‘Wear It Purple’ day for a week and had children from the mental health ward draw or paint pro-trans posters for its walls, she said.

Dr Spencer told the Daily Mail that, as a medical professional, she believed she could raise her concerns that this health service was harming patients.

She added that ‘troubled kids in hospital’ were being led along a path to change their bodies with ‘irreversible decisions’.

‘It’s not health care, it’s a political movement – and I am being punished for exposing what goes on,’ she said.

Dr Jillian Spencer believes it is important to have a public debate over the different views by medical professionals about gender-affirming treatment

Dr Jillian Spencer is a vocal opponent to gender-affirming treatment for children and is being investigated by national health regulator AHPRA which has power over all doctors’ registration

After working for Queensland Health for 20 years, including eight at the hospital where she was campus director of health, Dr Spencer said three years ago she made the decision to push back against the facility’s ‘affirmation model’.

It supports ‘gender interventions’ for children with body dysmorphia, she said, and made puberty-blocking medication and cross-sex hormones like oestrogen or testosterone available to minors.

Dr Spencer said debate on gender-affirmation treatment was vital, but was being suppressed by the national health regulator.

She believes the regulator fears that if doctors are sceptical, there is a danger trans people wouldn’t seek help and could be at risk of self-harm or suicide.

‘Before I was stood down, being in the hospital felt very heavy, walking past those Trans Pride flags every day,’ Dr Spencer said.

‘Talking to people while they’re wearing rainbow lanyards and pronoun badges was dispiriting.’

She said Queensland Health ‘mandated’ staff must use a child’s preferred pronoun instead of their biological gender, and would put youngsters on drug therapy leading to surgery. 

She said clinicians had to use the preferred pronouns even while discussing the case with another doctor, and that ‘trans pride’ celebrations took over the whole hospital.

Psychiatrist Dr Andrew Amos was also investigated by AHPRA after he posted on social media about the controversial gender-affirming treatment offered to young people

Jillian Spencer does not believe doctors should be prevented from publicly debating the current gender-affirming treatment  for children

‘They were getting mentally ill children from the mental health wards to create artwork to put up on the walls to celebrate those events,’ Dr Spencer told Daily Mail.

‘The Wear It Purple events were insufferable and completely inappropriate for a children’s hospital.

‘I felt physically sick after a gender clinic nurse said the hospital was running chest binder fitting sessions for girls.’

Dr Spencer now faces possible deregistration or restrictions forbidding her from clinical practice after making her views public.

Townsville child psychiatrist Dr Andrew Amos, who shares similar views, was effectively banned from working in February by strict new restrictions on his medical licence after he spoke out.

Dr Amos has been campaigning against the gender-affirmation model, arguing it is incompatible with ethical medical practice. 

He argued that children questioning their gender were rushed into the affirmation of an alternative to their biological gender without proper psychiatric assessment. 

The young person could have an underlying mental health condition or just be seeking a new identity and some attention to escape past trauma, he said. 

When Dr Spencer was at the Queensland Children’s Hospital she said the gender ward was festooned with Trans Pride flags and nurses taught chest binding classes to girls

He is now effectively deregistered after being prohibited from holding direct or indirect consultations, treatments or assessments, in person or even by telehealth.

He is also banned from the posting on social media about gender issues. 

Dr Spencer said other doctors who share her views are now too frightened to speak out for fear they might suffer the same fate as Dr Amos.

She lashed out on social media and branded the AHPRA ‘an attack dog’ for gender activists who had worked together to destroy Dr Amos’s career.

Others dubbed the gender-affirmation model ‘pseudoscience’ in replies to her post, and said AHPRA’s reaction to rein in Dr Amos as ‘regulatory overreach’.

One said it showed ‘gender ideology can only be sustained when it is protected by draconian censorship’. 

‘AHPRA is behaving like a modern-day witchfinder or inquisitor,’ they added.

Another asked: ‘Are we getting to the stage in Australia where we’re not allowed to even talk about gender critical points of view?’ 

Dr Spencer is currently challenging a termination notice from the Queensland Children’s Hospital, insisting she has a right to freedom of political expression.

AHPRA declined to comment specifically on the two cases involving Drs Spencer and Amos.

But a spokesman added: ‘It is important that people feel safe when receiving healthcare and have confidence in regulated health practitioners.

‘We respect practitioners’ freedom of expression, including advocacy via social media, provided it does not involve abuse, discrimination, or pose a risk to public safety.’