Read on Twitter
Transphobes claiming victory when the judgement was for the status quo of checking for Gillick competence for under 16s and Bell wasn’t under 16 when she began taking blockers...it’s like they can’t read
Yes it was deemed unlikely that under 13s were competent to consent, but not impossible...which is exactly as you’d expect. Her team saying this is a landmark decision in their favour is disingenuous
The court ruled...that Keira Bell was 16 when she was given blockers and she’d be given them again. Get over yourself
See. Her entire course of treatment would have remained unchanged https://twitter.com/minniestephc4/status/1333726824476647424
The actual aim of the case was to rule all under 18s incompetent, instead of assuming over 16s are and checking very carefully for under 16s which is exactly as it always has been and as the judge has ruled. Which is hilarious as they have said they won so won’t appeal
The danger lies in the interpretation of this ruling - but I doubt many cases will actually go to court, only those that were already borderline https://twitter.com/rachaelvenables/status/1333727963720916992
The groups supporting Bell want under 26s barred from taking any steps towards medical transitioning so it won’t end here. Especially as her lawyer is a homophobic Christian fundie who wants Gillick competence gone for everything
*nothing has changed*
What Justice Woolf said in his judgement on Gillick, which was upheld after an appeal was overturned:
The lack of clarity and this bit being unworkable is why the Tavistock will appeal - the anti-trans activists picked a poor mark in Bell, whose entire treatment being after the age of 16 made it easy to act like the Tavi were out of line in their interpretation for adolescents https://twitter.com/shonfaye/status/1333734379349286918
The anti-trans activists have convinced themselves and other people that you cannot simply stop taking puberty blockers if you get older and don’t want cross-sex hormones (which are not prescribed to under-16s by the NHS). Cis kids with precocious puberty stop taking blockers...
The reasons why few trans kids prescribed blockers leave it there and most go on to take cross-sex hormones are:
1) waiting lists are very long so most don’t see the service before they are in their late teens
2) blockers are usually prescribed to over-15s, long into puberty
1) waiting lists are very long so most don’t see the service before they are in their late teens
2) blockers are usually prescribed to over-15s, long into puberty
If 8-11 year olds, pre-pubescents, were actually seen in a timely manner by NHS services, you would see more young people using blockers for their intended purpose as time to think and maybe not transitioning rather than less-distressing limbo before cross-sex hormones/surgery
All the cries of waaaah bone density come from people who don’t understand that when kids stop using blockers, either to progress with natural puberty or to trigger one via cross-sex hormones, these issues go away. They’re not kept in eternal adolescent brain stasis
It’s important in the appeal that children understanding the impact of cross-sex hormones isn’t a condition for consenting to blockers, as under-16s are not prescribed CSH and they are not an inevitable consequence of taking blockers. Not a condition in precocious puberty cases
We have already seen GPs and other clinicians become extremely cautious and unwilling to support referrals or bridging prescriptions thanks to media coverage of anti-trans activism. Shon is bang on here. Treatment is already difficult and very very slow to access for all ages https://twitter.com/shonfaye/status/1333742874454872066
I’ll be over 45 by the time I’ve “completed” medical transition. I only turned 40 in October. There is no rush, only barriers
