Puberty Blockers In Northern Ireland

[BodyKeepingScore]

I know there's been a lot of discussion about the fact that the infamous Susie Green appears to plan to use Northern Ireland as a back door for supplying puberty blockers to children on the mainland.

To add further fuel to the fire, it appears that Sinn Fein appear to be lobbying for children in NI to be able to access puberty blockers, despite the recent English ban. Aided, no doubt by Mary Lou McDonald who's brother is trans

Many of you women are much more eloquent than I am, and much further along your journeys in educating yourselves in the horrors of trans ideaology and how it has become a mainstay of almost every institution in society.

This is probably a HUGE ask, and it comes from a place of genuine concern and fear but I plan to contact as many of our local politicians as possible to outline my concern and ascertain their position on this. Can any of you signpost me to legitimise resources I can include in my email to add weight and hopefully make at least one of them sit up and pay attention to the time bomb we're sitting on?

I know the DUP and TUV have been calling for a full ban and citing Cass. It would be useful if Mike Nesbitt were to hear from people other than those two parties making the same point. I'm not sure the Department of Health has said anything in response to Cass except for "the Executive will carefully consider this", which sounds like kicking the can down the road.

I'm not saying I don't trust Mike, but I wouldn't want to rely on him to take a decision that might make the Rainbow Project sad. He needs to know there are lots of parents who will have his back if he does this.

For me, the issue is that those of us in the majority who would not support the use of puberty blockers are stifled by a smaller but infinitely more vocal group of people who advocate for them because they wrongly believe (despite all evidence to the contrary) that banning them will result in swathes of dead children. I know many people who will admit privately that they don't support it yet wouldn't dare raise their head above the parapet for fear of being branded a TERF etc.

There's also the fact that many people are simply uninformed as to the potential risks involved with puberty blockers, it simply hasn't been in their sphere of awareness.
TRAs are so fierce and vocal in their agenda that dissenting voices are rarely heard above the noise. Our politicians favour falling on the side which they think will win them prestige for being inclusive rather than applying common sense and protecting the rights of women and children.

OP, I don’t know if this info will be of use but in June I found a resource document from the Pharmaceutical Society of N. Ireland. The document is described as:

'This is a resource for pharmacy professionals about providing information, support and services to children and young people with gender incongruence or dysphoria. Recent developments including the publication of the final Cass Report and various national policy updates have raised complex questions for pharmacy professionals about prescriptions for puberty suppressing hormones, cross-sex hormones and related medicines for children and young people.'

https://www.psni.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Gender-identity-services-Information-Final.pdf

And this article regarding a ban in NI was posted on a thread in March:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/health-minister-confirms-ni-puberty-blocker-ban-alliance-call-it-very-very-damaging-4556622

Here’s the thread itself:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5029846-health-minister-confirms-ni-puberty-blocker-ban

@UtopiaPlanitia thank you so much for this! I'm feeling quite overwhelmed at the idea of even sending the email and trying to balance my very real fears with not wanting to come across (or be written off as!) some bitter transphobic woman and ergo ignored. Those are very useful thank you.

Ach no bother @BodyKeepingScore I am glad to be even a wee bit helpful. There have been a few other NI-related threads and posts in FWR in the last year that might show up on an advanced search.

Considering SF members are holding events to raise money for Mermaids, I’m not sure SF leadership have given the issues regarding the dangers of puberty blockers much in the way of serious thought.

@UtopiaPlanitia Mermaids have become absolutely insidious in NI. I've seen them at three separate community and family events in the past two days (via my Twitter feed). I think I'm the past six months I've finally, what I see referred to as "peaked". I've recently finished reading Trans and Material Girls to kind of bolster a thought process and standpoint that I'd always halfheartedly taken but now I'm equipped with more of the facts I'm both furious and frightened. Wes Streetings recent ban kind of ignited a desire to seek out more information to really get a scope of the problem and I haven't been able to put it out of my mind since. My eldest daughter has left school now, but 12 kids, in a year group of 120, began identifying as trans after the school linked up with an organisation we have here called Cara Friend. I was absolutely aghast at the time at the schools stance on it and why nobody questioned how 10% of the children in one year group could suddenly realise they were "born in the wrong body". I spent some time in hospital last year during a particularly nasty bout of depression and a trans woman on the ward (albeit in a single room of their own slightly separate to the rest of us) sexually assaulted another patient while I was there. When I spoke out to convey my fear I was essentially made to feel as though I was a bigot. The patient who was assaulted discharged themselves rather than share living space with someone so dangerous. I'm in no way saying that I believe all trans identifying people are sexual predators but I am more aware than most of the risks to women when men are allowed to encroach on our spaces. I've reached a stage where I cannot in good conscience sit back and allow this to continue.

Mermaids have become absolutely insidious in NI. I've seen them at three separate community and family events in the past two days (via my Twitter feed).

It's Pride Week in NI, perhaps that explains your Mermaids mentions.

In reality, they're not a big thing in NI. We are on the whole a conservative society with much more religious influence than in other parts of the UK. What makes you think Mermaids are insidious here?

@TooBigForMyBoots when Sinn Fein are actively holding fundraisers for them I think it's indicative of their status. I'm aware it's Pride Week, so yes, community groups will have been inviting organisations which they feel aligns with that but Mermaids have attended a number of these groups, over and above organisations that actually support and advocate for LGB people.