On the 4th of October 2023, Rishi Sunak made a speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. He laid down his vision for the party, and the changes he would bring into place over the next year. He stated ‘‘A man is a man, and a woman is a woman, that’s just common sense’ (The Economic Times, 2023). It was also during this conference that Steve Barclay (the party’s Health Secretary) announced his plans to ban transgender women (ie a woman who was assigned male at birth) from being put on women’s wards.
One investigation by TransLucent of 102 NHS trusts found that there was not a single complaint about cis and transgender women sharing a ward (Steph White, 2022). Therefore, Barclay wanted to use the ‘trans debate’ to create stigma and gain votes. The existence of the 262,000 transgender people should not be up for debate (Office for National Statistics, 2021).
Transgender patients are more likely to avoid accessing health services, with the biggest reason being a fear of discrimination (Seelman et al, 2017) and when their existence is used as a divisive political tool by the leaders of the UK, this is likely to further hinder them further when accessing services. Steve Barclay’s plans will potentially result in the delayed presentation of patients and therefore poorer health outcomes among the transgender community.
It is also important to take into account the psychological impact of hearing the UK’s Prime Minister’s firm anti-trans stance on individuals within the transgender community. Multiple studies have found that transgender people disproportionately suffer from poor mental health (for example, Price-Feeney et al, 2020). According to the 2018 National LGBT Survey, transgender people are significantly more likely to attempt to self-harm or commit suicide. A US study found that 50% of transgender and non-binary youth had considered suicide at least once in 2022 (The Trevor Project, 2022). For many, the biggest factor that fuels this is social stigma.
When politicians voice anti-trans views and use a group of people as a divisive matter and a tool to boost their own popularity, this creates even further stigma, and allows the normalisation of transphobic beliefs. The Home Office stated that transgender identity hate-crimes rose by 11 per cent in the past year to reach a record high – and admitted that these could be fuelled by the opinions of politicians (Office of National Statistics, 2022)).
As health care professionals, it is vital to listen to the needs of transgender patients in order to remove barriers to them accessing services. We must educate ourselves on the challenges that this community face and treat all transgender patients with the same respect we would give to cis-gender patients, regardless of the country’s leaders’ views. This will allow better patient outcomes. Although our government has decided to use the transgender community as a political tool, we as health care providers should continue to treat each and every patient with the dignity and respect they deserve – regardless of the political opinions of those in charge.
References:
2021 Census - Office for National Statistics. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/census (Accessed: 09 October 2023
Economic Times. UK PM Rishi Sunak's 'common sense' lesson on gender debate: 'Man is man, and woman is a woman' (2023). YouTube. 5 October. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQca6SjQ0qI (Accessed: 09 October 2023).
Myeshia Price-Feeney, Amy E. Green, Samuel Dorison, Understanding the Mental Health of Transgender and Nonbinary Youth, Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 66, Issue 6, 2020, Available at : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.11.314.
National LGBT survey: Summary report - GOV.UK (2018). Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b3cb6b6ed915d39fd5f14df/GEO-LGBT-Survey-Report.pdf (Accessed: 09 October 2023).
Seelman KL, Colón-Diaz MJP, LeCroix RH, Xavier-Brier M, Kattari L. Transgender Noninclusive Healthcare and Delaying Care Because of Fear: Connections to General Health and Mental Health Among Transgender Adults. Transgend Health. 2017 Feb 1;2(1):17-28. doi: 10.1089/trgh.2016.0024. PMID: 28861545; PMCID: PMC5436369.
Sylvester, E. (2023) The trevor project releases new state-level data on LGBTQ youth mental health, victimization, & access to support, The Trevor Project. Available at: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/the-trevor-project-releases-new-state-level-data-on-lgbtq-youth-mental-health-victimization-access-to-support/ (Accessed: 09 October 2023)
Transphobic hate crime in the UK - Office for National Statistics (2022). Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/transphobichatecrimeintheuk (Accessed: 09 October 2023).
White, S (2023) Women’s single sex spaces in hospitals. - translucent, We campaign for visibility, acceptance, legal recognition and healthcare for the UK’s. Transgender, Non-Binary and Gender Diverse community. Available at: https://translucent.org.uk/womens-single-sex-spaces-in-hospitals/ (Accessed: 09 October 2023).
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