Blimey, I haven’t used this blog in ages. Anyway, mainly for a couple of friends, here’s the content of the letter I wrote to my MP recently to support trans kids. Welcome to use it, but you’ll probably need to adapt it quite a bit if your MP isn’t as good as mine. My MP is pictured here so I’m pretty sure she’s one of the good ones.
Dear Ms Cadbury,
Firstly, my congratulations on your well deserved win this general election. It was a delight to be able to vote for you again, and a joy to see you re-elected.
I’m writing to you concerning the healthcare of transgender children. Previously writing to you on transgender issues you’ve always replied positively and thoughtfully, and I’ve appreciated your work on this in the past. Your letter to Liz Truss on the conversion therapy ban was outstanding and it was a real source of happiness and inspirational to see you meeting young trans people just over a year ago to listen to them.
Several events recently cause me to write to you again today. It upset me to see transgender rights weaponised by the Conservative Party this campaign, and I found it horrifying to see the previous government ban puberty blockers for trans children with little to no discussion, following the Cass Review and just before the dissolution of the previous parliament.
The Good Law Project has highlighted the impact this sort of ban has had. In the seven years before access to puberty blockers was restricted following the Bell case, they state that one person using Gender Identity Development Services lost their life. Since then, in the following three years, sixteen have.
https://goodlawproject.org/rise-of-deaths-young-trans-people
While it isn’t clear how many of these deaths are suicides, the sharp rise and the known risks to transgender children and adults’ mental health when lacking gender affirming care makes it desperately concerning to me.
During the election campaign I also witnessed trans youths coming down from an occupation of a ledge at the headquarters of the NHS. Their words were inspiring, but they spoke of how desperate their circumstances were. One stated that they felt safer on the high and narrow ledge for several days than they did on NHS waiting lists for gender affirming care.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9CD6zBC49f/ https://transkidsdeservebetter.org/about
I really hope the new government will listen to their concerns and meet their desperately urgent needs. As said by one of the youths, having to wait years for medication to prevent a puberty that would lead to far worse gender dysphoria and irreversible changes they do not wish to undergo is about as helpful as having a nine month waiting list for an abortion.
I’m optimistic and pleased at the appointment of your colleague Bridget Phillipson to the position of Minister for Women and Equalities, and hope this and the change in government overall will make for a rapid reversal of the previous government’s decisions on these matters.
Lastly, on the subject of the Cass Review, I know the transgender community and the LGBTQ+ community that support them more widely were horrified by the nomination of Dr Hilary Cass for a life peerage in the dissolution honours. As the Good Law Project mentioned the review has had a devastating effect. Labour’s past acceptance of the Review was a huge disappointment, with Wes Streeting’s moves to accept the recommendations very saddening to see.
The review has been criticised by WPATH, who said that it “is rooted in the false premise that non-medical alternatives to care will result in less adolescent distress”. A report led by the Law School at Yale, with authors from numerous other institutes including medical schools gives a detailed breakdown of the flaws in the review (https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/integrity-project_cass-response.pdf) as does a second academic study led by the University of Galway with substantial contributions from UK academics and doctors (https://osf.io/preprints/osf/uhndk).
I feel strongly having read the Cass Review and its criticisms that the flaws in the report should be taken much more seriously by the government and the implementation of its recommendations urgently reconsidered, as transgender children are now facing such disastrous mental health and at huge risk of suicide and self harm, and that the peerage for Dr Cass might be reviewed if possible.
I hope you can raise this with Mr Streeting and other health ministers as soon as possible so that effective healthcare can be returned to these children without delay.
Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns and I hope you will continue to listen to trans youths on this as you have done before, and I’m hugely grateful for the work you continue to do for our constituency and country.
Yours with thanks,
Dr Edd Edmondson