On a case about the lawfulness of waiting lists approaching four years to access *triaging* for a time-sensitive treatment, the BBC chose to go, not to an expert doctor, but to the LGB Alliance. Goodness knows why, but here is some stuff you need to know about the LGB Alliance.
One of its founders says LGBT+ clubs – a safe space for many LGBT+ schoolchildren to accept their sexuality – shouldn’t exist because of “predatory gay teachers”. pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/23/lgb…
Another of its founder/activists - Gary Powell - has links with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative, anti-abortion think-tank in the US that opposes same-sex marriage. pinknews.co.uk/2020/06/03/lgb…
Although purporting to care about LGB issues, the lobbying of the LGB Alliance reveals it to be what it is: an anti-trans group. pinknews.co.uk/2019/11/13/lgb…
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I see my tweets about the effects of Wes Streeting's ban on puberty blockers on younger trans people have been criticised by the DHSC’s adviser on suicides. 🧵
1. What is undoubtedly true is that Victoria Atkins was warned by her own civil servants about the ban on puberty blockers posing “a high risk of self-harm and suicide” and Wes Streeting followed his predecessor in ignoring that advice.
2. Before publishing my thread (below) we went to the Tavistock and Portman with these numbers for a response. Other journalists went to NHS England for a response. Neither denied the numbers and both declined to comment.
Medically, not much will change. The NHS has not prescribed PBs for years. And now families will travel abroad to collect the drugs they know their children need. Streeting can make it less safe for everyone, and impose huge sacrifices on poorer families, but he cannot stop this.
Politically, I can't recall ever feeling this depressed. When the Tories did this cruel ideological act there was hope, for they would soon be out. Now Streeting is doing worse and it feels like there is none. Personally I am finding it *very* hard to assimilate this.
There are widespread rumours (and some evidence) of more to come and inferentially what Streeting is saying is that he will not engage with the trans community or listen to warnings from civil servants or the NHS and he will not engage with suicide data.
Second, given that the structure of the ban recognises the risks to of cutting off puberty blockers for those already prescribed them by the NHS, what steps have you taken to ensure those prescribed puberty blockers privately can continue to access them?
News on Victoria Atkins' emergency puberty blockers ban. Wes Streeting's position is that, subject to the outcome of the court proceedings and consultation, he will renew it and convert it into a permanent ban.
I congratulate the women in Labour's team who have, at least so far, brought thoughtfulness and sensitivity to the 'debate' about trans women. My feelings about Wes Streeting are unprintable: these measures will kill trans children.
These tweets are my own personal position and not that of @GoodLawProject.
Don't forget: how they weaponised hate, what they've done to the National Health Service, how they raised your mortgage and how they trashed the economy.
Don't forget: the money they stole under cover of Covid, the Parties they held while your parents were dying, the science they ignored, the bets they placed and the Veterans they dishonoured.
Don't forget: the children going to bed and to school hungry, the state of your beaches and rivers, whose taxes they cut and whose benefits they wouldn't and their sweetheart deals.