Transhealth care in the UK, and why it is broken.

I am writing this the night a motion I put in to delay the implementation of the CASS report into transgender health care for under 18’s until the British Medical Association has done a review failed in my local CLP.

The reason why I think it failed is people don’t seem to understand what this means for transgender youth and adults alike. I am going to list 4 arguments that was used to put it down and why I think (And this is my personal view) it failed.

1. I don’t want my 4yo daughter to go through this if she wanted to be transgender.

No one is saying anything should happen to a 4yo child. What should happen is counselling with a professional with the child and parents. It doesn’t matter if the parents agree or not, what matters is what’s best for the child.

2. There is not enough evidence that puberty blockers are safe.

Puberty Blockers, which is the ONLY medication that should be given to transgender youth, has been used on young girls since the 1970’s for a condition called Precocious Puberty. There is a mountain of evidence regarding using puberty blockers on children for this condition. By delaying puberty it stops hardships later in life and here are a few examples.

a. In Trans Women it stops the deepening of the voice. This can be distressing. For instance we have to correct people on the phone when they ask for us, saying we are who they after and we are transgender. It is very awkward for not just the caller but a reminder that we was born in the wrong body. Puberty blockers would stop the voice deepening.

b. For Trans Men it would mean they would not have to have an operation called top surgery. This entails the removal of the breasts and having scars there for the rest of his life. Puberty Blockers would stop breast growth.

3. We should accept everyone as they are.

Yes we should. The problem is we don’t transition for anyone else but ourselves. We just want to be comfortable in our bodies. Being in the wrong body is very bad for our mental health and wellbeing. It’s not just what everyone else think of who we are, but we want to be happy in ourselves also.

4. GP’s do not have the skill to diagnose Gender Dysphoria

GP’s don’t diagnose it or issue the prescriptions for Puberty Blockers. The Gender Clinics or GIS do. Now there was an argument that when a child gets referred to a GIS they would be an adult before being seen. Yes this is more than likely the case. BUT is that the fault of the child, or is that the fault of the past governments. If a child is on the waiting list they will get a head start when they get transferred to an adult GIS. More importantly they can also get counselling earlier instead of suffering, or worse committing suicide.

Now, I am a Trans Woman who is on HRT. I have had to go private due to the long waiting list at my GIS (The list has moved 1 month in 4 years).

If I had the opportunity to get puberty blockers when I was younger I would have got them. I would not now have a deep voice which is part of my Gender Dysphoria and HRT cannot fix. The only thing I can do is voice training. I never had a choice as the medical knowledge had not been discovered when I was under 18. Today, it is, and has been in use for decades, available for cis kids who have Precocious Puberty.

The only reason why “more research” is needed for transgender kids is because they are transgender. This is something I don’t agree with, and something the vast majority of people who are transgender don’t agree with.

What we need to do as a community is try and educate people.