According to a Vice exclusive, the Tavistock Centre is due to shut and the Tory government have, rather predictably, not bothered to ensure services are in place to replace it.
To summarise the Vice exclusive by Ben Hunte which you can (and should) read here, the Tavistock clinic, the only dedicated children’s gender identity clinic in Britain, is set to close in the coming weeks, but there is currently no plan for a replacement.
NHS sources told VICE World News that “there are no locations, no staff, and no services” in place for trans young people.
The clinic was set to close due to criticism in an independent review and be replaced by two regional service centres, but sources told Vice said that this deadline is now unachievable and there is currently no NHS service for transgender young people.
The clinic, which was launched over 30 years ago, has faced criticism and attempts to shut down its services as trans lives have been ‘debated’ with more hostility in recent years.
It is sad to say that we probably didn’t need this exclusive to tell us what will happen when the Tavistock closes its doors in the Spring of 2023.
While we were happy to point out to transphobes that they had not, in fact, won and a better system would be replacing one that even trans people took issue with, albeit for very different reasons, we knew, on some level, there was every chance of ending up in this situation thanks to the current UK puppet government that is controlled by those running out of Tufton Street.
As we recently discovered, 55 Tufton Street is the fancy address of the LGB Alliance.
To expect the Tories to commission services to help anyone who isn’t them is a big ask these days, even more so when you consider the war being waged against our trans and non-binary youth from the corridors of power in Westminster and those who hail from Fleet Street.
As Posie Parker held one of her rallies this weekend in front of a ‘DEFY THE GAYSTAPO’ banner that no-one seemed bothered about removing, it was a stark reminder that the UK continues to slide every further right, greased by the blood of trans kids they will now, presumably, force to transition due to a lack of other appropriate care.
The “gaystapo” they really have let the mask slip haven’t they? pic.twitter.com/EagwHDPfyn
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) February 5, 2023
This should be seen as a source of national shame but I fear that by the time this news reaches the offices of the Mail, Telegraph, Times, Guardian and BBC, they will be cheering it on with not one fuck given for the lives and trauma it will cost.