Today has been nominated as a national day of action on Protecting Trans Youth here in Australia. I’m unfortunately unable to travel for 4 hours to and from the nearest protests, but I really wanted to get there.
While trans folx here have been the butt of various political attacks in recent years, especially by the Federal Opposition party in the lead up to last election, this specific action was prompted by the Queensland State Government’s “Immediate pause of hormone therapy for public patients under the age of 18.”
If you read the official Government press release, one might be forgiven for thinking this was a ‘reasonable response’ to a finding that one health district was not following best practice protocols. This has all been painted as protecting our youth, but if you see the outcry and backlash from independent agencies, this might raise some questions about the validity and veracity of the Government response.
There are petitions, and responses from Equality Australia, the RACGP, and the AMA.
As the RACGP says:
“This decision is being framed as being about protecting young people, but this kind of blatantly political decision, and the media coverage that results, significantly increases hostility towards trans people in the community,” she told newsGP.
Reading the summary of the report, the wording is a lot more ambiguous and less damning than it first appears. Documentation is insufficient. A small number of patients (about 17) are potentially not receiving the full body of care they should be (which may well point to deficiencies in the health system in Queensland—another sign is the year and a half waitlist for treatments).
As the Guardian reports:
The Cairns and Hinterland Health and Hospital Service released a statement clarifying that a review had found “process issues” with the clinic, but that there had been no evidence of patient harm.
Even the Federal Government, who is not exactly known to be trans-friendly—and is launching their own review of national guidelines—is concerned about Queensland’s approach:
“Butler said he has asked Queensland’s health minister Tim Nicholls to abide by national standards.”
“I’ve indicated to Minister Nicholls that I don’t think it would be appropriate for Queensland to continue with their stated intention to undertake an evidence review in this area of care,” he said.
The Queensland Government is also pushing the barrow that the benefits are somehow contested, no doubt in response to the recent kerfuffle in the UK.
“There is contested evidence surrounding the benefits of Stage 1 and Stage 2 hormone therapy for children and adolescents with gender dysphoria emerging from studies throughout the world,” Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls said.
Actually, the WPATH guidelines are pretty clear. And there are plenty of other points of evidence, as Equality Australia says:
“This will be catastrophic for young trans people and their families when the evidence on the benefits of hormone treatments is clear and well established,” she said.
A view supported by the AMA:
“This move is at odds with the current evidence base, expert consensus, health services in all other Australian states and territories and the majority of clinical guidelines around the world,” Brown said in a statement on Tuesday.
Why a total ban, State-wide, on new patients? The review could take place while existing laws and guidelines are followed. At a minimum, it signals to practitioners that they will be under increased scrutiny, and to be sure to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, so to speak.
Again, the AMA sums this up well:
“This is a highly sensitive practice area with a unique and vulnerable patient cohort,” he said, “and it is crucial that a knee jerk reaction to an isolated incident does not prevent these patients from accessing the support and care they need.”
So, I’m most definitely there in spirit today, with others protesting this move by the Queensland Government. I suspect that we’re going to be taking to the streets more and more, as the US Government continues its attacks on the trans community, and local groups, including the Opposition, pick up the mantle here.
It’s important that we send a strong message, early, that the Australian community supports trans folx, and won’t stand for the sorts of rubbish being peddled in the US.