"Many Trans People won't ever see the NHS"

Thursday 20th November marked Transgender Day of Remembrance, an international commemoration of all the lives lost to gender-related hate crime and abuse. In many towns and cities, the trans community held vigils to remember their loved ones, and the joy they spread in their life.

I travelled up to Portsmouth to watch their vigil last week. It feels especially important in the current climate, where the community feels invalidated by the recent Supreme Court ruling. Jane, a member of Trans Pride Portsmouth, shared the importance of hosting an event like this: “A lot of people are afraid. It's not just about the people who have died but the people who are still here, and coming together as a community."

In Portsmouth, 367 transgender people died in the fight for rights in the last year. This figure excludes trans suicides, and trans people whose birth certificates still recognised them as the gender they were born in. Over 60 members of the community and their allies came to the vigil last Thursday night and told their stories, including the injustices they feel receive too little media coverage. 

“It’s been a tough year but that’s quite hard to see when there’s so much coming together, and the community is being so strong,” Jane added. 

One of Jane’s major concerns is the struggle that many young trans people face when trying to access gendered healthcare. Because of a limited number of experts and a rise in demand, waiting lists to see a gender specialist are now on average 25 years long, and even longer in Northern Ireland and Scotland: “Many trans people won’t ever see the NHS.

“One of the big things labour has done is take away healthcare for under 18s, replacing puberty blockers with counsellors, which is basically conversion therapy."

She refers here to certain counsellors who claim that a person only believes themselves to be trans because of some trauma they faced earlier in life. This particularly affects teenagers, although the NHS recently commissioned a divisive two-year trial into the physical side effects of puberty blockers on young people. 

The Good Law Project, supported by Trans Pride Portsmouth, are currently embroiled in a lengthy court case advocating against the law that says spaces can only be accessed based on biological sex. A result is expected early in the new year. 

We are living in fast-moving times for trans rights, as we await fresh legislation on healthcare for young people and the long-awaited conversion therapy draft ban bill. Although The Trans Cure? will release shortly before any of these decisions are finalised, it feels like an honour to be able to tell this story in such an important, make-or-break time for this community.