LGBTQ+ youth orgs urge Wes Streeting to stop siding with anti-trans campaigners
Wes Streeting has been urged to listen to trans youngsters (Getty Images)
Health secretary Wes Streeting has been urged to listen to trans youngsters, and stop siding with anti-trans campaigners by 10 LGBTQ+ youth organisations.
The signatories, including TransActual and Mermaids, have written a letter to Streeting and NHS England medical director with responsibility for gender care James Palmer to lift the restrictions on gender-affirming care for young people. They also ask that the NHS provides timely, holistic care to all trans people, based on informed consent.
It comes after Streeting paused the PATHWAYS puberty blockers trial, and the NHS stopping new prescriptions of gender-affirming hormones for 16 and 17-year-olds. Guidance for GPs was also updated that restricts access to those treatments.
The letter is also signed by The International LGBTQI Youth and Student Organisation (IGLYO), The Kite Trust, Gendered Intelligence, Proud2Be, FFLAG, SAGE Staffordshire, The Proud Trust, and Mosaic LGBT+ Young Person’s Trust.
In it, they write: “As organisations that work with and support trans young people, we are deeply concerned about the impact of your approach.
“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.”
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
