In the wake of further restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare for young people, TransActual and nine other organisations advocating for LGBTQ+ youth have written to health secretary Wes Streeting urging him to change course: to stop siding with anti-trans campaigners and start listening to the trans young people his decisions impact.
The LGBTQ+ organisations ask Streeting and James Palmer, the NHS England medical director with responsibility for gender care, to reverse the restrictions on gender-affirming care for young people, and ensure the NHS provides timely, holistic care to all trans people, on the basis of informed consent.
The health secretary recently paused the PATHWAYS puberty blockers trial. Following this, the NHS stopped new prescriptions of gender-affirming hormones to 16 and 17-year-olds and updated guidance on shared care for GPs that further restricts access to these treatments.
“As organisations that work with and support trans young people, we are deeply concerned about the impact of your approach,” the organisations say.
“We can work together to prevent further harm by taking a more careful, compassionate, and supportive approach. But the extreme lack of caution being shown by the Government and NHS England through its continued assault on the availability of gender-affirming care risks causing serious long-term damage to a generation of trans youth.”
The full letter that has been sent to Wes Streeting and the NHS is available online here
The signatories to the letter are:
TransActual
IGLYO – The International LGBTQI Youth and Student Organisation
Mermaids
The Kite Trust
Gendered Intelligence
Proud2Be
FFLAG
SAGE Staffordshire
The Proud Trust
Mosaic LGBT+ Young Persons’ Trust
Further information
For further information, please contact press@transactual.org.uk