The human cost of the UK’s anti-trans turn
Brits can argue about intent all they want. But when policy changes are followed by funerals, the math is no longer theoretical.
Measurable, documented, and ongoing harm is being caused by the UK’s anti-trans panic. Years of hostile policy, medical rollbacks, and political scapegoating are producing a sharp increase in suicides.
As Erin Reed documents, the UK has systematically dismantled gender-affirming care, framed trans youth as a social threat, and replaced evidence-based medicine with political panic. The result is predictable: isolation, despair, and death.
More alarming is what appears to be an explicit attempt to cover up trans youth suicide deaths. Those who seek to restrict gender-affirming care also seek to restrict any information showing those restrictions may lead to harm. Among the far right, claims have emerged that transgender youth are in no danger of suicide from the withdrawal of gender-affirming care, but this could not be further from the truth. Numerous studies have shown high suicidality among trans youth and increasing suicidality in places where anti-trans legislation has taken root. Rather than report honestly on the impact of their policies, the UK government appears to have tried to cover it up.
“Those of us in or close to the trans community have been to the funerals of those we love. And we have wept together for those we have been unable to save on Trans Day of Remembrance. We know the truth – we see it with our own eyes. And, to us, the decision by Wes Streeting to commission a review into suicides which downplayed the scale of these tragedies was unforgivable. His report denied the reality of trans deaths, as Streeting’s ban on puberty blockers denied the reality of trans lives,” reads the Good Law Project report.
Brits can argue about intent all they want. But when policy changes are followed by funerals, the math is no longer theoretical.
Grrrrr...this pisses me off. There is zero reason for governments to exclude trans, who are actual real people who are doing what they can to live a happy and enjoyable life. (Surprise...just like everyone else is trying to do.) Kept your religion out of government. (I can dream anyway.)