Wave after wave of hostile policymaking has hit trans children and young people in recent years. In the press and online, trans kids are a ‘controversial issue’. Across our movement, voices speaking up to defend trans children and young people have got quieter and quieter. A new wave hits, and the cycle moves on.
But trans children and families don’t move on. They are left dealing with the cumulative impact of a government that is targeting them, making their lives smaller and less safe.
Let’s start with the obvious. There is now almost no NHS access to gender affirming healthcare for under 18s. Prescription of puberty blockers was banned two years ago; now the government is consulting on banning access to hormones for 16 and 17-year-olds as well (in reality, prescriptions to both groups fell off a cliff long ago).
GPs are advised against shared care agreements with private providers, and pharmacists are advised against filling prescriptions. Statutory services of all kinds are encouraged to consider safeguarding referrals for supportive families.
This will lead to more trans children and young people being faced with an unwanted puberty. The class divide yawns wider because some parents can afford private care – often by making extraordinary sacrifices – while others are completely locked out. And a growing number of children and young people are self-medicating – sometimes with safe drugs and safe people, other times with strangers who advertise ‘try before you buy’ testosterone online.
And it is not just access to gender affirming care that has been shut down by the government. School, already an incredibly tough place for many trans children and young people, is going to get tougher.
The governments’ new relationships and sex education guidance will come into force in September, making schools feel more wary of talking about trans people and trans identities.
Worse still, the government is currently consulting on a new draft of its schools safeguarding guidance that aims to impose strict segregation of trans students in toilets, changing rooms, sports and residentials, as well as making it exponentially more difficult to get schools to agree to support students socially transitioning.
All of this means more outing, deadnaming and wrong pronouns, which leads to increased bullying. Trans children will stop doing PE or start trying not to pee at school, sadly already common among the young people Allsorts works with.
The days when school is just too much to cope with will begin to pile up, and there will be more trans children who drop out and are ‘electively’ home educated by families stretched to breaking point.
And of course, the new code of practice from the equality watchdog will make every other part of their lives less safe and less certain. Toilets, changing rooms, sports, youth activities, clubs. If they are separated by sex, trans children and young people will be segregated, just like trans adults.
Just like adults, they will be exposed to outing and humiliation, and just like adults, they will be at risk of being targeted by vigilantes, high on self-righteous cruelty.
You see the picture; it’s one of growing social isolation, with ever fewer options for Trans+ kids.
This is the world that the UK government has created for trans children and young people to live in. Over the course of successive governments, wave after wave, steadily eroding the ground beneath their feet.
The message they are trying to send is clear: stay in the closet. Close your eyes really tight, and maybe this feeling will go away. Don’t expect the rest of the world to accept you as you are.
A few weeks ago, I was running a leadership team meeting at Allsorts, the incredible LGBTQ+ youth charity I’m lucky enough to work at. I asked people: ‘What keeps you awake at night?’
Every single person said the same thing – we lie awake worrying that not all of our Allsorts kids will make it. Crafting sessions and day trips, new friendships, workshops on self-harm and suicide, karaoke, coaching, the experience of coming out and being welcomed.
These are the blocks we are stacking, one after the other, so trans children and young people feel stronger and have somewhere safer to shelter when the waves hit. We’re working with hope, always shot through with a thread of fear.
And as often as I think about the most vulnerable children and families we work with, I think about the trans children and young people who are absolutely flying.
Kids who are glowing with self-belief, who are happy and proud of who they are. Kids who have come through dark times and are forging ahead. How many times will they have to hit the wall before this is over? We say it gets better, but when?
Every single adult owes trans children and young people better than this. If you are stuck for something to do, support your local LGBTQ+ youth service with your time and money. Speak to your MP and your councillor and advocate for these children. Fight for inclusive services and community groups in your local area.
Trans children and young people don’t need our sadness; they need our power and our solidarity.
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