BBC2 documentary asks Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best?

Transgender children has been a talking topic in recent years, and tonight (12 January) will be explored in the BBC2 documentary, Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best?

Its creator John Conroy narrates as the cautious, well-thought out film tiptoes around the delicate subject of transgender children. The Beeb follow in the footsteps of a Channel 4 series and a Louis Theroux film.

The programme shows how Dr Kenneth Zucker, an outspoken voice on child gender dysphoria lost his job after connecting an insistence on wanting to switch genders with mental health issues.

Zucker tells how he was denounced by transgender-affirmative scientists, but received the backing of his patients and colleagues. He advises caution about very young children being allowed to set out on the trans path, saying: "A four-year-old might say he wants to be a dog. But do you go out and buy him dog food?"

He also remarks, in the BBC documentary: "It's possible that kids who have a tendency to get obsessed or fixated on something may latch on to gender. Just because kids are saying something doesn't necessarily mean you accept it, or that it's true, or that it could be in the best interests of the child."

Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best? airs tonight at 9pm on BBC2.