Just a short post, based on something I came across today while waiting for an appointment at the GP’s today. As you would, while waiting for the appointment I had a flick through some of the leaflets on display, and one of the leaflets was rather conspicuous in what was – or was not – present:
If you haven’t guessed (and come on, it’s in the title of this post), the conspiciously not-present item was transgender people. It’s not just that page, either: crisis centres, Childline, support for most minority groups (including LGB people, women, and ethnic minorities) are advertised on the half of the leaflet dedicated to listing support groups, but not one support group for the transgender community. It seems a strange omission, especially when considering that trans people, in part due to the social stigma of being transgender, often would need mental health services.
This would be a momentarily lapse if it were not for events at the Leeds GIC (Gender Identity Clinic): as Zoe O’Connell has covered on her blog (twice), there seems to be a bit of a gap between the medical consensus on gender identity is and how the various NHS services in Leeds practice. And the student medical practice website doesn’t mention gender identity issues at all, despite the fact that, again, young adults (especially students) will start to become aware of said issues.
So the main question is: what the fuck is going on?
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