As James Murray is sworn in a Health Secretary following Wes Streeting‘s resignation, LGBTQ+ charities have shared their hopes and demands amid further restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare for young people.
TransActual and nine fellow LGBTQ+ youth advocacy organisations had written to the former Health Secretary, urging him to reverse course — to stop aligning himself with anti-trans campaigners and begin listening to the trans young people affected by his decisions.
The LGBTQ+ organisations called on Streeting and James Palmer, NHS England’s medical director responsible for gender care, to lift restrictions on gender-affirming treatment for young people and guarantee the NHS delivers timely, comprehensive care to all trans people, based on informed consent.
Now, some of the signatories of the letter have shared their hopes for the new Health Secretary and call on him to “engage with and listen hard” to trans people.
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The trustees of FFLAG, a national voluntary organisation and registered charity supporting the full human and civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and non-binary individuals stand by the requests made in their initial letter to Wes Streeting, and encourage Murray to “engage with and listen hard” to the trans people and families affected by anti-trans policies.
“As the UK’s longest established charity supporting parents of LGBT+ children, we stand by the requests made in the letter recently sent to Wes Streeting,” their statement read. “We encourage James Murray to engage with and listen hard to the voices of those most affected by these policies – trans people and their families. This engagement has been sadly lacking so far but James has an opportunity to reset and change direction for the better.
“We urge him to reverse the restrictions on gender-affirming care for young people, and ensure the NHS provides timely, holistic care to all trans people, on the basis of informed consent.
“Restricting access to treatments that have been available for many years and that are deemed appropriate and effective by international standards of care is wrong and dangerous, and this continued assault on the availability of gender-affirming care risks causing serious long-term damage to a generation of trans youth,” the statement concluded.
Mermaids, one of the UK’s leading trans-focused charities, call for “timely, supportive and holistic healthcare access for all” and for NHS maximum wait times to be in line with the 18-week NHS Constitution.
They say: “We hope that the new Health Secretary will take the time to listen to and engage with trans young people, who are currently being failed.
“To this end, we hope James Murray will commit to working with organisations who represent and support trans youth, to prevent further harm by taking a more careful, compassionate, and supportive approach than his predecessor,” they added.
“We urge the Health Secretary to reverse the restrictions on gender-affirming care for young people, including resuming the PATHWAYS trial into puberty-suppressing hormones, and ensure the NHS provides timely, holistic care to all trans people, on the basis of informed consent.”
Trans Actual were one of the first charities to share a statement following Streeting’s resignation, saying that the former Health Secretary “may have lost confidence in Keir Starmer, but not before he had lost the confidence of the UK’s LGBTQ+ community.”
“As Health Secretary, Streeting oversaw a worsening crisis in trans healthcare that his replacement must now seek to fix. This means ending the ban on puberty blockers immediately, reinstating access to HRT on the NHS for under 18s in England and Wales, and building a healthcare system that works for all trans people,” their statement read.
“We hope that the next Health Secretary is willing to engage with TransActual, and to draw a line under this dark chapter for the NHS.”
In a later comment to The Mirror, TransActual confirmed that they are “in the process of reaching out to the new Health Secretary and hope to meet with him soon.”
In response to the calls from the LGBTQ+ charities, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is for everyone, and we are committed to ensuring that transgender people receive high-quality care holistic care.
“This government will continue to be led by evidence on gender services, and the safety of children and young people always comes first. The Secretary of State will listen to and engage with a diverse number of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience in his role.”
The Mirror has approached James Palmer and NHS England for comment.