By Claudia O’Riordan
Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced in December that the temporary ban on puberty blockers for under-18s introduced by the Tories in May last year would be made indefinite. This decision was made due to the supposed “serious risks” of the effects of puberty blockers on children. However, despite those apparently serious risks, the ban is only being applied to children with gender dysphoria/gender incongruence, illustrating that the issue is not solely the drugs themselves. This is straightforwardly an attack on trans healthcare.
There are risks associated with taking puberty blockers – although they are, by and large, overblown or even completely reversible. This is the case with any medication after all. A ban on puberty blockers is a dangerous move that will undoubtedly lead to deaths.
Trans healthcare in crisis
The state of trans healthcare in the UK is extremely unfit both for children and for adults. The waiting list to access services under the NHS is extremely long and takes multiple years to receive just an initial first appointment at a minimum. The ban on puberty blockers for under-18s is not the end for the attacks on trans healthcare.
The Cass Review, which looked into gender identity services for children, was the first to recommend the banning of puberty blockers. Since the Cass Review it has been reported that a number of GPs have begun refusing or withdrawing hormone treatment for even adult patients. Now a new review into adult services has been commissioned which will likely follow the lead of Cass and further limit access to services for trans people.
There has been a concerted effort to turn the very existence of trans people into a hot topic in the “culture war”. With the way the government and the media talk about this you would think there was an epidemic of young people being given puberty blockers without proper oversight and care. The reality is fewer than 100 under-18s were being prescribed puberty blockers under the NHS before NHS England announced that Gender Identity Clinics would no longer prescribe them in March last year. Outside clinical trials there is now no option for trans youth to access puberty blockers, whether through the NHS or privately.
Labour no ally
Unfortunately Labour have decided to fold in the face of pressure from the media and the right wing and chosen to continue and escalate the attacks instead of standing up for the rights of trans people. During the election campaign Labour promised to “restore dignity to trans healthcare” and yet their actions say otherwise. While in opposition Labour reversed their pledge to introduce self-ID, they helped the Tories block the mild reforms passed by the Scottish Parliament to the Gender Recognition Act and now in government they are continuing to throw trans people under the bus.
We cannot rely on the Labour Party to defend trans people, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing that can be done. In June last year the TUC committed to opposing the Cass Review and the hostile approach to trans healthcare more generally. In light of this most recent decision by the government, the trade union movement must step up in organising the defence of trans rights. Ultimately we are in desperate need of a new party, one that won’t back down in the face of right wing attacks not just on trans people, but also on migrants, benefits claimants, workers and all oppressed and exploited people.
