About a year ago I was invited to Change.org HQ to speak about my campaign Nail Transphobia. After my talk there was a question and answer segment, and someone asked me what the process of transitioning through the NHS is like. I told them my story; how I was in a very dark place, battling suicidal thoughts for years pre transition, how when I finally built up the courage to talk to my GP he looked at me in disgust and told me I’d never be a woman, how he told refused to treat me and sent me away. I recalled the look of disgust my GP gave me when I told him I was trans, how he told me I’d never be a woman and how he then refused to treat me. I also explained to the group that this was something many trans people experience and joked that I should start a change.org petition. No one laughed at my joke.
When I looked around the room they were all dead pan and said 'ermmmmm no you actually need to do that though!' A month later, I set up my petition, to tackle transphobia in the NHS by ensuring GPs are educated around trans issues, and in less than a week my petition had reached 30,000 signatures.
I was shocked. When I set up the petition I was only hoping for a couple of thousand signatures, because the issue is so niche I only expected members of the trans community to care enough to sign it. The level of support I received blew my mind, and I was particularly taken aback when I saw that the majority of the signers were actually cis straight people. Reading through the comments made me super emotional. Everyday life as a trans woman is a struggle; I get a lot of crap, more than most people would be able to cope with and it often feels like the whole world hates me- so reading these comments really helped me see how much support there was out there for me and my community.
However, there were hundreds of comments that left me feeling less positive - comments from other trans people saying they had had similar experiences to mine. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t shocked or surprised, I knew this was happening from just speaking to my trans friends, but reading comment after comment made me realise the scale to which this is happening. How could this be happening in the UK in 2016?!?
There was one comment in particular that I’ll never forget, it was from a mother explaining that her son had been treated similarly by their GP and killed himself as a result.
Lives are at stake here. It’s reported that 41% of trans people attempt suicide in their lifetime.I’ve been very close to taking my life a couple of times and I was at my lowest point when I went to my GP. The way he treated me took a further toll on my mental health. The last thing you need when you’re feeling suicidal is to be treated like dirt by anyone, but especially the person put in place (and being paid sips tea) to help you.
Thankfully, I didn’t kill myself and I’m here now. I went back to my GP surgery, but I had to see two doctors before I found one decent enough to actually, you know, do their job. The second time I went back, I saw a GP who was low-key transphobic and told me to book an appointment with a GP who knew more about trans people. The third time I went back, I saw a GP who actually treated me with respect and did her job unlike the other two, but I had to tell her how to do her job because she didn’t know what she was supposed to do with me. For those of you who don’t know, all these doctors actually had to do was send an email referral to the Gender Clinic. I wasn’t asking them to perform gender reassignment surgery on me there and then on their desk, just to send an email; it's really not that complicated hun.
The individuals I, and so many others, have encountered must take some of the responsibility but this is part of a much larger problem. A problem which has been highlighted in Parliament’s recent transgender equality inquirywhich exposed that the way we are being treated is actually illegal- GPs refusing to treat us and the tw0-year waiting lists to see someone at the Gender Clinic to just discuss transitioning (not actually begin transitioning). Now, months after this report was published, despite the Government admitting that the law is being broken and despite a lot of pressure from the trans community, nothing has been done to improve things.
So what needs to be done for things to change?
Well, first of all you can sign my petition babes! GPs need to be educated. There’s currently no teaching on trans people during a GPs training, qualified GPs can choose to do a voluntary online module in their own time, but let’s be real, how many GPs are going to get home from a long day at work, sit down in front of their computer and opt to spend their free time learning how best to treat trans patients? Not many. More than this, the ones who need to being doing it the most (i.e. the ones who aren’t clued up or are transphobic) are the least likely to choose to do it off their own back. An optional only module changes nothing.
As well as better training for GPs, we also need a better service, period. If anyone else called up their doctor about any other problem, be it a broken leg or a cold, and was told they have to wait two years for an appointment, it would be front page news. These ridiculous (and illegal) waiting times are undisputedly to blame for the high suicide statistics that plague our community, so until something is done to improve this service and improve the education of the GPs who act as gatekeepers for this service, the Government has blood on their hands.
Our demands aren’t excessive, we’re not asking for too much, we’re just asking to be treated like everyone else, We don’t want special rights we want equal rights. We deserve equal rights. We deserve better than this.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.