The United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Care has placed a permanent, indefinite ban on puberty blockers, extending it to include Northern Ireland as well. It is set to go into effect on January 1, 2025.Northern Ireland was the last respite in the country for access to puberty blockers, with a previous temporary ban only including England, Scotland, and Wales. This was made in direct reaction to efforts from medical professionals to continue prescribing life-saving medical care to transgender youth in the UK. Related Youth activists release thousands of crickets to disrupt anti-trans hate group conference Lead conference speaker JK Rowling called the activists homophobic for standing up for trans rights. The ban does not extend to hormone replacement therapy. It only affects puberty blockers as they relate to gender dysphoria and does not affect their usage for precocious puberty or early-onset puberty. The only way trans children can access puberty blockers is through clinical trials. Global perspectives delivered right to your inbox Our newsletter bridges borders to bring you LGBTQ+ news from around the world. Subscribe to our Newsletter today This ban will be reviewed in 2027 after the results of UK-based trials on safety and effectiveness are published.The decision is based on the Cass Review, a systematic review of the literature that has been criticized for immense bias. Dr. Hilary Cass, the researcher behind the Review, had no professional history working with transgender youth and actively consulted anti-trans lawmakers in Florida during her research.Researchers at Yale University gave a detailed, evidence based critique of the Review, revealing that Cass had failed to bring trans people onto the project, didnt listen to the subjects she interviewed, left out crucial information in her report, and relied on a highly flawed methodology which largely invalidated the claims and recommendations made.Trans advocacy organization Trans Actual provided a detailed list of critiques of the Cass Review that have been published since its findings were made public in May. The list includes testimonies from hundreds of academics who believe Casss work is heavily flawed.TransActual Strategy Director Keyne Walker denounced the ban in a statement to LGBTQ Nation. Banning medicines with no evidence of serious harm, only for trans people, using powers designed for contaminated and life-threatening drugs, is discrimination plain and simple. To do so in order to coerce young trans people into a delayed and currently unspecified research trial which both the BMA and Council of Europe have described as potentially a violation of the patients rights, is an unconscionable act that will have severe ramifications for a generation of trans people. Evidence of the harm of the temporary ban continues to emerge, and will grow now that it has been made permanent. Meanwhile evidence of actual harm from the past 40 years of puberty blockers use remains elusive.That the UK government pursues such an approach while counterparts in France, Germany, Australia and elsewhere have rejected this approach in favour of trans peoples access to healthcare, demonstrates just how out of touch with evidence the Secretary of State for Health is. When the UK is an outlier used to try to restrict peoples access to healthcare elsewhere, then questions ought be asked how can we be so different.Walker encouraged folks to read the organizations deep dive into the Cass Review. Puberty blockers are indeed well-regarded, and research has shown they are safe and have no permanent effects.Theyve previously been tested on youth undergoing precocious puberty and have a great deal of evidence to back their efficacy.There has been evidence to suggest that depriving trans youth from access to care via the National Health Service has led to an uptick in suicides, according to activists in the region. However, the NHS disputed this claim in an independent report, which suggested that there is no statistical relationship between restrictions on care and suicides.Yet trans activist Caroline Litman, the mother of a transgender young person who took her own life after being deprived of care from NHS waitlists, revealed on BlueSky that this report excluded her daughter, suggesting that there may be additional data that were unaccounted for in this critique.BREAKINGOn the day the UK government announces a permanent puberty blocker ban I learn: ALICES DATA WAS NOT INCLUDED in data sent to Appleby to assess for his rushed DHSC report, that dismissed whistleblower claims of increased suicides in trans youth since Bell.The report is a proven sham.[image or embed] Caroline Litman (@alicemydaughter.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 7:09 AM I am shaking. I am relieved. I am devastated. I am furious. I am bereft. The puberty blocker ban is a death sentence for some particularly vulnerable trans youth. It is unconscionable. When will the people with the power to help sit up and listen? Its a scandal. A cover up. A crime. Im so sad, she said of the ban.I am shaking. I am relieved. I am devastated. I am furious. I am bereft.The puberty blocker ban is a death sentence for someparticularly vulnerable trans youth. It is unconscionable.When will the people with the power to help sit up and listen? Its a scandal. A cover up. A crime. Im so sad. Caroline Litman (@alicemydaughter.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 7:09 AMUK-based activist group Trans Kids Deserve Better known for releasing thousands of crickets at a conference hosted by the anti-trans hate group LGB Alliance launched an emergency protest outside Wes Streetings office the day the ban was announced. Streeting is the Labour Health and Social Care Secretary who pushed for the ban to go into effect.Wes Streeting has chosen politics over our lives, said an activist known as Grin in a statement. We are being put through an experiment, but the experiment is to deny us healthcare, not to provide it. He wants to see what happens to us when we grow up permanently altered in ways we never wanted, and we never consented to be part of that, The trans-led UK news outlet What The Trans released a live thread on BlueSky detailing the latest developments in this protest. BREAKING NEWSTrans Kids Deserve Better are occupying Wes Streeting's Office at Ilford North. Get down there and support everyone. For folks who want to support. Signal announcement group:www.transkidsdeservebetter.org/adult_supporWe've Been advised to share this.[image or embed] What The Trans (@whatthetrans.com) December 11, 2024 at 1:32 PMWes Streeting said in a statement, Childrens healthcare must always be evidence-led, Citing the Cass Review, he continued, We need to act with caution and care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people, and follow the expert advice.We are working with NHS England to open new gender identity services, so people can access holistic health and wellbeing support they need. We are setting up a clinical trial into the use of puberty blockers next year, to establish a clear evidence base for the use of this medicine.TransActuals Walker said Streetings claim that he is doing this to help trans kids is at best paternalism, at worst the smiling face of bigotry being passed off as concern. Cass said in a statement, I support the governments decision to continue restrictions on the dispensing of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria outside the NHS where these essential safeguards are not being provided.Editors note: If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at988lifeline.org. TheTrans Lifeline(1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth viachat, text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.