Thread by @_oatc_

@HarryJosieGiles 1/ You may not be familiar with transition problems faced by trans minors in the UK, especially outside Scotland. For decades the government/NHS were able to ban all transition by having commital to asylums (including ECT) as official policy. This was replaced in 1989 by a…

@HarryJosieGiles 2/… monopoly, psychoanalytically-led clinic that refused any medical intervention even when the HBIGDA SOC allowed HRT at 16, & tried its best to discourage any transition, not least by promoting hopelessness. It promulgated national guidelines so no other doctor dared treat…

@HarryJosieGiles 3/… minors differently. Doctors who helped patients independently have consistently been ruined. Any patient even having sought treatment elsewhere was denied all further NHS gender treatment until adult. All that was endorsed as government policy - signed off personally by…

@HarryJosieGiles 4/… a minister - when a national commission was granted in 2008. When healthcare was devolved Wales continued with the London clinic & NI & Scotland created their own monopoly clinics. Scotland's turned out to be a distinct improvement.

To continue about England, it took…

@HarryJosieGiles 5/… until 2015, & much pressure by professional peers elsewhere, to get provision of agonists that 🇳🇱 started providing in 1988 & 🇺🇸🇧🇪🇳🇴🇩🇪🇨🇦 by 2006, but an untriaged waiting list of 17+ months, followed by at least 2yrs of delays can make timely access impossible. They are…

@HarryJosieGiles 6/… supposed to be available at Tanner2 (the first signs of puberty, which can be from 8yo in AFAB, & 9yo in AMAB) but government statements suggest pressure to withhold them until 15, by which most damage can be done.

The clinic opposed #GenderRecognition until 18 in 2004,…

@HarryJosieGiles 7/… saying no one could be sure of their gender until then, & still opposes it. So it doesn't provide backing for social transition, only discourages it (whilst, in line with govt policy discouraging bullying). However, if schools or social workers (to whom many parents of…

@HarryJosieGiles 8/… trans children are referred by "concerned" schools, police, neighbours) ask for confirmation of the gender of a child from the clinic they don't provide it, even if the minor has made it past the waiting list & been seen. They may discourage schools from affirming the…

@HarryJosieGiles 9/… child, citing "potential harm" if the child "desists" (from purely social transition).

The government has a database of all children, upon which a child's gender can be corrected, b that right could be ended. The NHS also has a database with a full record of gender…

@HarryJosieGiles 10/… connected matters of all children, & their families.

I'm sure you can see how easy it would be to tweak that monopoly in such a way that no trans minor in England received any medical intervention, & would be unable to transition at school, & their family might well be…

@HarryJosieGiles 11/… subjected to persistent persecution by "concerned" groups.

I don't want any panic, but, especially if the UK departs the #ECHR, even though that court hasn't ever ruled on trans minors, it doesn't look good.

@HarryJosieGiles @threadreaderapp unroll please

#AffirmTransChildren #MyRightToBe