Great post.
Here is how I use common sense when I know nothing about the subject. I ask questions and research the subject. I don't let hot button words distract me. Research so far has shown me the overwhelming answer to the current question is NO.
So the reading I've done, and I wouldn't call it research, is that when people have questioned the GAC narrative, they have been answered with name-calling and delegitimization rather than actual answers to the questions. I look for people who are not politically motivated and ignore people like Matt Walsh who was mentioned above, a pundit devoid of empathy who is the exact same as the most extreme trans activists just on the other side of the coin. (Even if he is correct as a broken clock)
In addition to the British policy changes mentioned above by
@zh cohen, Finland and Sweden have also reversed course. They have a much more extensive dataset, as they've been doing it for longer. They're also not going to be colored in any way by "right wing transphobia".
Regarding the medical associations that have come out in favor of GAC, I've become increasingly skeptical. Without mentioning covid, the AAP and others has come out in favor of 12 year olds getting treated with ozempic, a lifelong diabetes drug which has not been tested for long-term effects, it is so gobsmackingly stupid, I didn't actually believe it was true when I heard it. They also suggest bariatric surgeries for kids who are just about to go through puberty and most significant body (size) changes. It's astounding.
And on this topic itself, institutions like the Boston Children's Hospital put out materials detailing the kinds of surgeries and irreversible treatments they do as part of GAC, and then the uproar, claimed they don't do those treatments.
Then there is the pushing of narratives like the low regret rate, when one of the major studies used to prove this says this:
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