Transit is the Catalan gender identity service. It's rather peculiar, and, like Tavistock, it has close ties with trans activism. But don't take my word for it. Here's the director of Transit telling its history:
1. She came up with the idea while she was on a leave of absence:
2. She claims that she was allowed to create it because her boss, at the public health system, owed her. And that she didn't have knowledge on transsexualism or gender identity
3. It started as a gynecology service, but soon she started prescribing hormone treatments too. No pyschological evaluation needed.
4. There was an official Gender Identity Unit in place in Barcelona. They reported Almirall to the regional Department of Health for running a "free hormone store", as she says. Apparently nothing happened.
5. By 2016 Transit is flooded, it exists in some sort of legal vacuum, so they can't hire people. Almirall goes back to the trans activists, who create the Platform to Trans*form Health. They want Transit recognized and to close the official Gender Identity Unit
6. This is a member of the Platform, speaking about how easy were the meetings with the Department of Health, how quickly they agreed on everything.
7. They didn't manage to close the previous Gender Identity Unit, but Transit became official too, opened units all over Catalonia and a new model of care was created following their principles. The principles behind cases like this one:
8. Or this one, where a 5-year-old asks how soon he can get his penis removed, and the doctor replies that he has to wait or he'll never get a vagina to enjoy "if you want to enjoy"
9. What about the long-term effects of the treatments? Is Transit concerned about that? Its director says that yes, many long-term effects are unknown, but one has to "take the risk"
And if you want to know more, here's the written version, with more details and sources.
martinendaracoll.com/the-catalan-ge…
Another pecualirity is that no referral is needed, anyone can contact through e-mail or phone and get an appointment. Almirall has said that Chrysallis, an organization of families with trans children, puts people in touch with the service. Inspired by Mermaids?
This feminist organization has written a report about it too, using official data. Between 2015 and 2021 there was a 5700% increase in the number of 10-14-year-old-girls seen by the service. And on 2021 they didn't record the sex of 3.7% of their patients.
feministes.cat/wp-content/upl…
This happened at the last presentation of their report. Yelling, harassment. One of the speakers, a gay man and detransitioner was insulted.
We need to learn from the experience in other countries, from the Cass review, from the Swedish and Finnish evaluations. Gender-affirming therapy is risky enough by itself, without all the irregularities surrounding Transit. We need a thorough investigation of the work they do.
Maybe the people who watched #genderwars last night are interested in this or some of the great women from terf island that helped us reach peak trans down here @bindelj @ThePosieParker @HJoyceGender @Docstockk @helenlewis @lascapigliata8 @hannahsbee @sarahditum @8RosarioSanchez
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