Understand the LGBTQIA+ news: What does a healthcare system, that actually works for Trans+ people, look like?

When you see the solution to a big problem, you have to pinch yourself and ask: why aren't we doing it?

This week, our lead investigative journalist, Vic Parsons, looks at what it would take to solve the extraordinary waits for healthcare that 48,000 people face, as we've exposed in our series The Gender Clinic Files with What The Trans?! and Claire's Trans Talks.

It seems the question is not how we can address the problem, but instead why we don't.

We need a paradigm shift to bring about the solutions Parsons identifies this week, which is why it's hopeful to see the work of Trans+ rights organisations coming to the forefront in the last fortnight.

I've been aware of the hard work these grassroots organisations have been doing, week in week out, to fight back against anti-trans policies, because I speak to activists, sources and campaigners every day.

But over the last two weeks, those campaigns - which take a great deal of time to organise and bring to fruition - have started to deliver decisive wins. From employment tribunals which re-establish the rights of Trans+ people in the workplace, to putting the EHRC's anti-trans tirade on the international news agenda, it's been an eventful few weeks.

Like this campaigning, our investigations take a great deal of time to come together before we can put our heads above the parapets and tell you about them. We've been working on The Gender Clinic Files for months—an investigation that has sent shockwaves, been covered by a growing number of other media and already garnered over half a million impressions on our channels alone.

Jamie Wareham
QueerAF Founder

Understand the LGBTQIA+ headlines and keep track of the latest queer content and perspectives. The QueerAF newsletter this week is written by Jamie Wareham, the Gender Clinic Series by Vic Parsons and the Queer Gaze by Daniel Anthony.

💬 This week:

• The Gender Clinic Files: Our next investigation in the series reveals how a system that works for Trans+ people is possible under a shift in approach, that could even be vastly cheaper.
• Manchester Pride: The city's 40 years of Pride are in trouble, after the beleaguered organisation running the event entered into liquidation this week.
• Black History Month: One of Britain's most successful colonial lies still causes harm to LGBTQIA+ people all over Africa. This week in the Queer Gaze we explore its enduring legacy.

Skip the doomscrolling and support queer creatives instead. We are QueerAF – and so are you.

The Gender Clinic Files: What would a healthcare system that works for Trans+ people look like in the UK?

TL;DR: Using data from The Gender Clinic Files, in collaboration with What The Trans?! and Claire’s Trans Talks, QueerAF examines what it would take to reduce the 48,000 people wait list for transgender healthcare in the UK.