There are three (that I definitely know of) beautiful portraits of trans people in this exhibition. Go take a look and vote for People’s Pick https://t.co/lcupueyZha #photography#translivesmatter
The Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2024 is now open!
Featuring 55 photographers from around the world, this exhibition showcases the very best of contemporary photography.
Plan your visit now: https://t.co/0ODeWK4ON1
Supported by @taylorwessinguk
🎥 North South
🏳️⚧️ "No child should have to wait years for the healthcare they need to thrive." - Anne Health co-founder Susie Green.
This moving piece in the Metro highlights the heartbreaking six-year wait trans youth face for gender-affirming care in the UK.
https://t.co/0EwfV2qNXz
@wesstreeting I’m a cis woman. You might as well force feed me testosterone or maybe if you should take oestrogen? That’s what it feels like to deny trans kids puberty blockers. Forcing them to go through hell.
This incredible man did my surgery 17 years ago in a world that was very different to the one we live in today. Not a day goes past where I don't give thanks to him for performing the final step of a journey I started nearly a decade before with the Tavistock GIDS.
THIS is what ‘institutional capture’ looks like!
THIS is what ‘systemic transphobia’ looks like!
It’s NOT a ‘conspiracy theory’ or ‘hyperbole’ it’s 💯 real, and also happening in politics, healthcare, and education sectors!
Who will the powerful bigots go after next? 😖
⚠️ 58% of respondents to the recent UK government consultation on puberty blockers opposed a ban and stated that it would harm trans youth... The government implemented it anyway!
Read more: https://t.co/ekPVqMCZL7
#TransKidsDeserveHealthcare
@karatrany Exactly. So happy you are confident, just like my daughter. She wouldn’t have gone to school if she had been forced to go through male puberty 😞
"I know it won't feel like it based on the decisions I'm taking today, but I really do care about this", Health Secretary Wes Streeting says as his department announces that puberty blockers will be banned indefinitely.
Another quote from one of the mum’s who travelled for a secret meeting with @wesstreeting a few weeks ago to ask him to rethink his ban on puberty blockers:
“We managed to get into that meeting with WS via our MP and my daughter basically did an amazing job of being an example of the positive benefits of PBs and gender affirming care. But as we predicted, it made no difference.
“I genuinely can’t believe how hard it is now for kids coming after my daughter. In that meeting WS heard such impassioned testimonies and saw through my daughter exactly how the right care can allow someone to thrive - but he took no notice. It’s cruel, callous and political.
“I am now scared for my daughter’s future and what she will face as she goes through life in this hostile environment “ 🏳️⚧️ @UKLabour@AnnelieseDodds@bphillipsonMP
Do you know who is going to suffer the most from your puberty blocker ban @wesstreeting? Trans kids in poverty, trans kids who have no support from their families, trans kids who are already bullied, ostracised or unable to be themselves. The kids who Labour are meant to protect.
It’s important trans young people know that there is an entire vast community of healthcare staff and academics out there who will continue to fight for you, and challenge the manipulation of evidence that is stripping you of your rights
(And we wont require a peerage to do it)
Streeting delivers a message to trans young people -
'I know it won't feel like it based on the decisions I'm taking today, but I really do care about this'
The health secretary announced he's putting an 'indefinite' ban on puberty blockers for under-18s
genuinely don’t understand how banning puberty blockers but only for trans kids isn’t discrimination on the basis of a protected characteristic. it isn’t just the same medication, it’s the same medication for the same purpose: delaying puberty for better outcomes for a patient
BREAKING - LONG TWEET: A few weeks ago, a group of mums and dads were given a secret meeting with Wes Streeting. Very hush-hush. They’d written to ask if they could bring their trans kids to speak directly to the Health Minister, so he could hear first hand what banning puberty blockers would mean to their lives. I’m told Wes appeared sympathetic. The meeting got underway, and one by one, the trans boys and girls took their turn, the mums and dads saying nothing. They explained that they knew who they were, had always known, and that they didn’t want their bodies to change in a way that made them stand out. They all had friends and family who accepted them, and just wanted normal lives, which PBs would help give them. There were lots of tears listening to the testimonies. The parent who told me about the meeting said the emotional charge in the room seemed to be making Wes realise. In their words: “How anyone could not be moved after hearing that, I’ll never know. Hopefully, he now understands. I have more hope after today. I can’t see how anyone listening to what we’ve just heard doesn’t understand.”
However, I’m sorry to say the parents have just been told that Wes will be announcing this week that the ban on puberty blockers is to be made permanent. This is despite the fact that the exact same puberty blockers will still be prescribed to non trans kids. So this medicine (which has been around since the 1970s) is “dangerous and irreversible” for trans kids - but perfectly safe for kids who aren’t. Utterly ludicrous. Over the last seven years, the Gender Critical / Religious Right movement has manufactured countless quack reports from pseudo scientific sounding groups they’ve set up to oppose Gender Affirming Care. They have targeted applying for positions in the NHS linked to trans care. Kemi Badenoch has admitted PLANTING Gender Criticals in the NHS. Similar tactics have been used in the US. Why? Because when all this started, all the evidence in the world SUPPORTED Gender Affirming Care. They needed to oppose and muddy the waters. Create confusion and panic. But do it with a medical veneer. Which is how we came to have CASS and the likes of the SEGM and various other paper-mache’ fronts. All corrupt. All with pre-determined anti-trans views. Often with Religiously motivated individuals involved (please bear this in mind when you see the likes of JKR shouting about some medical report on PBs which she waves about like Neville Chamberlin as “proof.”)
Anyway, none of this helps trans kids - the ones who are now going to suffer. Who - along with their parents - will become criminals in the eyes of UK law, as they try to get harmless PBs from other sources to stop their bodies changing in a way that will make them stand out, and a target for bullying and the sort of vile harassment you see on this platform everyday . It is going to cost lives, and for those who survive, it means decades of trying to undo the physical changes they themselves never wanted - but Wes and JKR did. The UK is the only country in Europe that has this ban. As a postscript, I can also tell you that during the polite chit-chat cups of tea phase of the meeting, where Wes mingled with parents, he said he “couldn’t stand” the nurses from Darlington, who have complained recently about a woman who is trans using the same facilities they use. I don’t believe a single word Wes says - and neither should you. Shame on @UKLabour@wesstreeting@NHSEngland
To all the trans young people and their families, who are watching the government target them right now, please be assured that we will continue to support you.
Be assured that your safety and wellbeing is our primary concern.