The Northern Ireland Executive has unanimously supported Health Minister Mike Nesbitt’s proposal to indefinitely ban the private prescription of puberty blockers. The ban, intended to align Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK, received cross-party backing from Sinn Féin, DUP, and Alliance ministers even though Sinn Féin support the use of puberty blockers for trans children in the Republic of Ireland.
This ban was the only thing on the Executive’s agenda for today.
Despite concerns, the Alliance Party raised no formal objections but sought assurances that children in Northern Ireland could still participate in clinical trials involving the drugs. The Council of Europe have already said these trials could be ‘unethical’.
It is expected that a ban until October 2027 will be introduced in England and Wales by the end of this week.
Although time was ostensibly taken to gather submissions regarding the temporary ban—including meetings with parents, trans children, and advocacy organisations who voiced grave concerns for the safety of trans youth—their urgent pleas have been disregarded.
The voices of those most intimately familiar with the challenges faced by trans children—those best equipped to inform policy—were ignored. Meanwhile, I am informed that discussions have already begun about services to address the anticipated rise in suicidality that this decision is expected to provoke.
While this outcome is regrettably unsurprising, the sense of profound disappointment remains palpable. Once again, trans people, their allies, and their advocates find themselves silenced and dismissed.
Public assurances of consultation by Ministers provided a veneer of transparency, yet behind closed doors, decisions were engineered to ensure the policy was a foregone conclusion before it reached a vote. Actions driven by anti-trans agendas were rubber-stamped by either complicit or apathetic Ministers, leaving trans children and their families in a state of acute distress and panic.