GB News was hit with Ofcom complaints following a fiery discussion about the rise of “gender distress” in the country.

GB News: Charlie Downes asked about ‘gender distress crisis’

Michelle Dewberry’s GB News show, Dewbs & Co has been hit with 73 Ofcom complaints after a discussion about transgender people and mental illness.

On Friday, January 24, Michelle was joined by political commentators Charlie Downes and Samuel Sweek to discuss a study which found children are now 50 times more likely to suffer from “gender distress” than a decade ago, according to NHS records.

Charlie said: “This language talking about ‘gender distress’ I think is basically code for mental illness and it’s no secret that my generation and below are experiencing unprecedented levels of mental illness.

“Where I think this comes from is, among other things, a lack of belonging… I just think that the conversation about this is wrong.

“We are talking about downstream consequences of a more fundamental issue, which is that we’ve behaved as if living under this liberal, moral paradigm – that we have since the end of World War 2 – that individual self-expression is the most important thing. What I think it does to people is it makes them a little bit loopy.”

READ MORE: GB News’s Michelle Dewberry makes heartbreaking admission in Starmer attack

Michelle Dewberry’s GB News show was flooded with Ofcom complaints. (Image: GB News)

Downes’s comments were challenged by Samuel Sweek, who said he believes a number of children are suffering from gender dysphoria “because of the climate in which we live in”.

He said: “I think the conversation about trans people descends immediately into the gutter and removes the dignity and justice that these people deserve.

“Just like us, trans people want and deserve housing, education, jobs and opportunity, but so often they are derided in debates as being deviant or wrong in some way.”

The research, published by the University of York, found that one in 1,200 children in 2021 expressed turmoil over their biological sex. This is compared to one in every 60,000 in 2011. Researchers also found those questioning their gender are more likely than average to have autism or mental health problems.

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Charlie Downes discussed being transgender and mental illness on GB News. (Image: GB News)

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The study, published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, did not examine the causes of the increase. However, author Professor Tim Doran argued that the increase in social media use is behind the rise.

In a meeting with MPs last month, Oxford University hormone doctor Professor Ashley Grossman warned of a “conveyor belt” towards trans ideology.

He told the Health and Social Care Committee: “Adolescence and childhood is quite a difficult time and highly confusing for a lot of children.

“My concern is that we’re not adequately assessing the probably much larger number who, with adequate counselling and psychological support, would eventually decide they wanted to stay cisgender.”