Stormont health minister’s drugs trial ban plays political games with trans lives

LGBTQIA+ advocacy group The Rainbow Project (TRP) have “unequivocally” condemned Northern Ireland Executive health minister Mike Nesbitt’s decision to further perpetuate the discrimination of trans people. Nesbitt has chosen to suspend the region’s participation in a clinical trial of puberty blockers.

In a statement, TRP said:

This decision runs contrary to the Executive’s stated agreement to participate in this trial, and demonstrates that the apparent need for evidence-gathering and more research are being abandoned in favour of political game-playing and culture wars.

TRP’s Policy Campaigns & Communications Manager Alexa Moore added:

The Executive claimed that its ban on puberty blockers was based on evidence: this decision is very clearly based on politics. This clinical trial was held up by Executive parties across the board as a means by which to gather the evidence for the use of blockers, assess their safety and efficacy, and make a decision on their use on that basis.

Trans communities are bearing the brunt of a political culture that views us as a stick with which to beat political opponents, not as real people with real lives and real healthcare needs. This decision demonstrates that no amount of evidence, no amount of research, no amount of suffering within trans communities will trump the need for politicians to score political points against each other at our expense.

Puberty blockers are, as the name suggests, are a class of drugs that can delay the onset of puberty. They can be used by transgender youth as a means of ensuring their physical characteristics match their gender identity. Their use for under-18s is currently banned in Britain and the North of Ireland. The clinical trial underway across Britain will ostensibly allow further insight into their efficacy.

Nesbitt driven by hatred against trans people rather than evidence

First minister Michelle O’Neill also characterised Nesbitt’s move as political, saying it is “more about inter-unionist rivalry”, and describing it as “disgraceful”. It should be noted that O’Neill’s party Sinn Féin are little better, however. They backed the 2024 outlawing of puberty blockers. That move resulted in various Pride events banning the party, along with others who voted the same way. Criticism of Nesbitt’s latest move is absent from the well populated news feed on the Sinn Féin website, and from O’Neill’s social media feeds.

Nonetheless, there’s little doubt Nesbitt’s move is politically motivated. The health minister is an MLA for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The post on the party’s Facebook page announcing the u-turn clearly indicates the political manoeuvring behind the decision to throw trans people under the bus.

The graphic shown twice mentions the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), seemingly contrasting the UUP’s latest assault on trans rights with a supposedly liberal approach of the DUP. The post singles out the latter for their previous work developing gender health services for children, before going on to boast of the UUP’s move to ban sale and supply of puberty blockers. In reality the DUP are not at all friends of the trans community, and regularly use them as playthings for a pathetic culture war.

The political nature of Nesbitt’s move was further revealed by the nonsensical answers he gave in the Assembly chamber on Monday February 16. He repeatedly claimed to be following the science and expert opinion. If that is the case, why cease a trial that would enable proper scientific conclusions?

He also asserted that his move was to ward off the:

…issue developing into another executive row.

It has now become just that, as opposition parties denounced Nesbitt for his u-turn. People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll described the suspension as:

…a decision motivated by moral panic and transphobic politicking – not the interests of young people.

Lack of proper care causing suicides among transgender youth

The health minister’s rash decision comes in the aftermath of fresh evidence about the harms of denying young transgender people proper healthcare. A freedom of information (FOI) request by the Good Law Project (GLP) found that:

…in 2021-2022 suicides of trans children in England surged to 22, a marked increase from 5 and 4 the previous two years. This spike follows the decision by NHS England to pull down the shutters on gender affirming healthcare for young trans people following detransitioner Keira Bell’s case against the Tavistock.

Tavistock was a centre for providing healthcare catering to trans people. The GLP previously reported on how minutes from Tavistock’s board meetings indicated they withheld information on deaths “due to reputational impact”. It is illegal to refuse a freedom of information request on these grounds. Whistleblowers who wanted to reveal the spike in suicides were threatened with disciplinary action by Tavistock management.

Health secretary Wes Streeting’s response has been a policy of shooting the messenger. He has attacked those reporting on the way his health service fails transgender youth, rather than fixing the problem.

Streeting is no doubt concerned about attacks from the right should he advocate on behalf of trans people. His Stormont counterpart is the same, driven by fear of the DUP and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). Their cravenness will only spell more hardship for an already maligned and marginalised community.

Featured image via the Canary