Farewell Susie Green, the CEO of Mermaids, a charity that describes itself as supporting ‘trans, non-binary and gender-variant children, young people and their families’.

Green resigned rather abruptly on Friday, and the statement from its chair was short and to the point. An interim CEO will be appointed in due course.

Mermaids has found itself under scrutiny after deciding to bring a case against the LGB Alliance, the only UK-based organisation that focuses exclusively on same-sex attracted people. Mermaids claims it was not, in fact, established to support lesbians, gay men and bisexuals — but rather to discredit and disband trans charities like itself. The outrageous claims and questions by Mermaids witnesses and counsel during the tribunal, such as asking if lesbians can have penises, and suggesting that the term ‘same sex attraction’ is ‘exclusionary’, has led to many individuals asking hard questions about the organisation.

Green, who has spoken of taking her own teenage child to Thailand for surgery, led Mermaids into battle with the LGB Alliance by challenging its charitable status.

Under Green’s leadership, Mermaid became far more prominent, gaining support of the likes of Prince Harry, US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and sponsorship deals with Starbucks. Green herself has been much lauded and was on the Pride Power List, 2016 as an ally.

Mermaids was set up in 1995 by a group of parents whose children had according to their definitions, gender dysphoria, or discomfort about their birth sex. The organisation is not involved in medical care, and Green has no medical knowledge or training. Many simply self-identify as parents with trans children.

Where did it all go wrong under Green’s leadership? Well, for starters, there was the scandal of Jacob Breslow, a trustee of Mermaids who made a dramatic exit when it was uncovered by a journalist that he was a child abuse apologist. Then there was the fact that 14-year-old girls were being sent breast binders in the post, without the consent or knowledge of their parents.

There have been child data-breaches, and an ‘admission’ by two Mermaids witnesses in court that, they ‘haven’t read the Cass Review’, which says the current clinical model of a single specialist Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock, much praised by Mermaids, was no longer appropriate.

Then there is the fact that Mermaids chatrooms often referred families to online clinics, such as that run by Helen Webberly who was suspended by the GMC; as was her husband who also ran the clinic after his wife’s suspension.

I asked Richie Herron, who underwent sex reassignment surgery having been persuaded it was the answer to a myriad of mental health issues, his view on Green’s resignation: ‘It’s clear that the court case has shed light on Mermaids activities. The once reputable organisation originally set up to help parents has made unredeemable alliances with individuals whose interests raise neon red flags,’ he says.

‘Young gay men and women are being butchered in the name of “trans healthcare”’, he says. And Mermaids appears to have supported this approach.

Prior to her appointment as CEO, Green was promoting puberty blockers for very young children. In 2014 she was asked, following an exposé that the Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic planning on offering puberty blockers to children following a clinical trial, ‘is the NHS right to offer this treatment to nine-year-olds?’ She replied, ‘yes’.

Since Green took up her role, the notion that some very young children can be identified as having been ‘born in the wrong body’ has become more and more accepted.

I was a signatory to a letter to the Times in 2019 expressing concerns that Mermaids peddled the notion that children as young as two could have a gender identity.

Green has appeared untouchable for years, but perhaps her arrogance – that she could destroy another charity that provides much-needed support for same-sex attracted people – has been her downfall.

A CEO resigning before a replacement is appointed doesn’t happen overnight, it is a sign of a charity in internal crisis. Mermaids claims to be under attack, as it stated in its recent crowd fundraiser, but it has brought it all on itself by attacking those that refuse to capitulate to gender ideology, and associating itself with the likes of Jacob Breslow.

That children who feel uncomfortable in their own bodies are trans and should be put forward for puberty blockers and sex change surgery will surely will go down as the biggest medical scandal since Thalidomide.

Whatever is happening within Mermaids, I hope every single person and organisation that offered it unconditional support, and ignored the red flags and warnings, are lying awake at night in dread. Their role in this will not go unnoticed when the truth comes out.

Recently, the Charity Commission opened a regulatory compliance case into Mermaids  after a number of complaints that it fails to safeguard young people. I would call for a police investigation into its practices, as well as a public inquiry. Susie Green’s departure is only the beginning. Mermaids must fall.

The post Where did it all go wrong for trans charity Mermaids? appeared first on The Spectator.