Being transgender in the United States is tough. Being transgender in other countries can be much tougher.

For all the pushback and societal obstacles we have face in parts of America, our trans sisters and trans brothers in Great Britain have even more of a struggle.

This situation was recently pointed out to me by one of our sub's members, who told me about some British trans friends of hers who were having difficulty in getting gender affirming surgery. I was honestly shocked, as we are conditioned to believe that the folks across the pond are more progressive and open-minded than us Americans. Apparently, not so.

For instance: Did you know that puberty blockers have been legally banned in the United Kingdom as of an "Emergency Order" issued in May of this year?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/trans-kemi-badenoch-biological-sex-gender-tories-b2555563.html

Or that there is a push by some to make changes to the 2010 Equality Act to require that "the definition of sex to reflect biological sex that is given at birth" ?

Or that a name change, under current law dictated by the 2002 Gender Recognition Act, has been criticized because it:

• does not comply with United Nations Human Rights Commission guidance
• is overly complicated and bureaucratic
• requires a wait of at least 2 years
• requires medical reports and pathologises trans identities
• depends on a panel of strangers deciding a trans person’s identity for them
• doesn’t offer legal recognition to trans people under 18
• ignores non-binary people
• requires married trans people to get permission from their spouse
• leaves people in a legal grey area

Much of the current transphobic retrograde stems from the Cass Review, a 2020 report commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS), and led by a retired pediatrician named Hilary Cass. The subsequent finding of the review have proved to be influential in providing ammunition for those seeking to limit trans rights. And fighting its findings has become a monumental task for the British trans community and a political football.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/12/ban-on-childrens-puberty-blockers-motivated-by-ex-health-secretarys-personal-view

Great Britain is obviously not alone in with their surge in transphobia. Transgender people in some countries run by religious zealots are even susceptible to a death sentence:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiewareham/2020/09/30/this-is-where-its-illegal-to-be-transgender-in-2020/

None of these facts diminish the ongoing onslaught of legal efforts threatening our own fates here in America. But it does give it some perspective. And inspiration to keep it from occurring here on a nationwide basis.

For more information about the British transgender community and their ongoing battles, here is a helpful link:

TransActual UK: https://transactual.org.uk/who-are-transactual-uk

--- Anni