Transgender Updates: July 2024

Medication for transgender individuals

Following Dr Hilary Cass’ recommendation for caution around the use of puberty blockers within the Cass Review, NHS England maintained its view that puberty blockers should not routinely be given to anyone under the age of 18. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) sought to expand this ban to private clinics. Private organisations that fail to take into account the recommendations of the Cass Review could be disciplined by the CQC. On 30 May, prior to the dissolution of parliament, the then Health Secretary, Victoria Atkins, placed a temporary emergency ban on prescribing puberty blockers to young people in England, Wales and Scotland. This prevented puberty blockers from being prescribed to anyone under 18, either privately or through the NHS unless part of a clinical trial.

This development was met with disappointment by the transgender community, and at the beginning of June, campaigners launched a legal challenge against the ban. The hearing is currently ongoing, with those acting to challenge the ban stating that “the evidence shows that the impetus and only disclosed rationale for the making of the order was the personal view of [Atkins] that the Cass report required immediate action." Those supporting the ban argued that “[The Health Secretary] reasonably took the view that it was essential to enact legislation with immediate effect to ban such prescribing and restrict other inappropriate prescribing to avoid serious danger to health.” A judgment is expected in due course. In the interim, the new Labour Government has indicated that it will seek to make the ban permanent, pending the outcome of the judicial review.

Further, claims by the campaign group The Good Law Project that incidents of suicide have increased among young patients since access to puberty blockers was restricted have been the subject of a government-ordered review. These claims were dismissed by the author of the review, Professor Louis Appleby from Manchester University, who found that the data available did not support the claim that there was a large rise in suicide by young patients who attended the Tavistock Clinic. He also added that the treatment of the issue on social media had been ‘distressing and dangerous’.

For parents of transgender and gender-questioning children, it is crucial to be aware of these developments when it comes to understanding the therapeutic process. There have been incidents of young people taking puberty blockers obtained from outside of the UK, with little understanding as to what they are taking and the long-term impact of this unsupervised self-medication. Further, disagreements between parents over the treatment process for transgender children can lead to parents turning to the family courts where they are unable to reach a decision jointly.

Developments with Scottish Legislation

Hamza Yousef responded to the Cass Review by stating that every recommendation made by Dr Cass would be considered but commented that decisions relating to the prescription of treatments such as puberty blockers should be left to clinicians, not politicians. He has, however, been accused by the Scottish Conservatives of “stalling for time and passing the buck to clinicians.”

In a statement that may have caused further disappointment to those campaigning for better gender recognition in Scotland, Sir Keir Starmer commented in the run-up to the election that should he be elected as prime minister, he would refuse to lift the veto on the Gender Reform Bill. The Gender Reform Bill was a piece of legislation that would have introduced a self-identification system for those wishing to change their legal gender, and was eagerly awaited by those campaigning for transgender rights. The UK Government blocked the bill in January 2023.

Transgender guidance in schools

Providing guidance for teachers as to how to ensure they best manage the needs of transgender and gender-questioning children continues to cause difficulties. In June, guidance for teachers in Northern Ireland that children can become aware that they are transgender between the ages of three and five has been removed, with the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment stating the guidance was based on research that was over 10 years old. The change has been met with mixed reviews, with some saying that the decision to remove the guidance was made on a technicality rather than a change of policy, while others have welcomed the change, saying that the previous guidance was ‘dangerous and foolish’ as it encouraged young children to ‘take on board gender stereotypes and to use them to judge themselves and others’.

Use of single-sex spaces

The ability of transgender individuals to use single-sex spaces continues to raise controversy. The most recent occurrence to make the headlines was the announcement that the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association had rejected a motion proposing that transgender women should not be allowed to use the Hampstead Ladies Pond. The City of London Corporation, who run the swimming ponds, had introduced a new gender identity policy to ensure they were compliant with the Equality Act in 2019. This had met with some resistance as it allowed transgender women to use the ponds. The motion to inhibit transgender women from using the ponds was defeated.

Violence against Transgender individuals

Incidents of violence targeted at transgender individuals have continued to occur. Most recently, a transgender woman in her twenties was stabbed in the leg by three teenage boys in Stockton-on-Tees. Police are treating this as a hate crime and commented that "Physical violence against a person, or slurs made regarding a person’s gender identity, race, disability or any other difference, is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in our communities."

Transgender athletes

American swimmer Lia Thomas, the first transgender athlete to win the highest US national college title, launched a legal challenge against the ban on transgender women from competing in women’s elite races if they have gone through any part of male puberty. The ban was introduced in 2022 by World Aquatics. It was announced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in June that Thomas’s legal challenge would be dismissed. Crucially, this was due to the fact that CAS deemed she was not eligible to challenge the rules as she was no longer a member of US Swimming. It therefore remains to be seen if a legal challenge by an individual who was eligible to challenge the ban would have been upheld.

‍

If you would like to have our Transgender Updates sent directly to your inbox, sign up here.

If anyone is affected by the above or needs guidance on family law, please get in touch with our family team for support and assistance.