The NHS has banned the use of cross-sex hormones in the under-18s, so why are private clinics still offering them?

[IwantToRetire]

The first time I knew my daughter felt different was when she texted me from a bus stop one Sunday morning. “Hi, I think I’m transgender.” That was it. She was still only 12. Not knowing how to respond, I typed back: “OK. I love you. See you later.”

“I just don’t feel comfortable as a girl.” I explained that puberty is a confusing time, when bodies change and develop. She confessed that she was attracted to girls. I said: “That’s fine – being a lesbian is perfectly OK.” Charlotte sees being trans as more acceptable than being “a confused lesbian”. She now wouldn’t identify as “gay” because she believes she is a boy who likes girls. There’s a saying, “transing the gay away”: it seems like it’s just not fashionable any more to be gay.

At 14, Charlotte decided to live with her father. “Dad accepts me for who I am,” she said. Since then, I have seen my child only a handful of times a year. That’s incredibly painful. My messages are usually ignored and occasionally blocked.

Things got even worse two years ago when I discovered that Charlotte had been taking cross-sex hormones – since August 2023. I only discovered this from Reddit, after realising that a post about double-dosing “T” (testosterone) for over a year came from her.

It turned out that Charlotte had been prescribed testosterone by Gender Plus Hormone Clinic with her father’s consent, after our GP had – sensibly – refused.

Just a few paragraphs from a much longer article at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/parenting/children/trans-clinic-daughter-hormones/

Also at https://archive.is/68FoY

I think they haven't banned private clinics proscribing cross-sex hormones to those who are already taking them, although they are banned from starting new kids on prescriptions. Ditto puberty blockers.

I believe the NHS has only banned coverage to new patients under the NHS (existing patients are still allowed access). Private providers are still assessing new patients and prescribing puberty blockers and hormones based on non-NHS (assuming WPATH-derived) protocols.

That's what I understood. But haven't had time to check.

But either way if they are deemed not to be safe then it should apply to any source of health care.

Even if only in the future someone turns round and sues the Government from not protecting them just because they / their parent have money.

I believe they are safe and when used appropriately and a valid health care option (yes, contentious here... but in my own belief... so I'm not going through that discussion again).

Immediate family maltreatment of trans people, combined with the general societal abuse of visible trans people, have far more negative affects on the health of trans people than HRT. Yes, there are side effects. Some are welcomed, some are rare and debilitating. There's a lower percentage of people regretful of HRT use than pregnancy (for some random statistic).

I think testosterone has a much greater impact on a female body than oestrogen on a male body. I was listening to a woman who at 25 went through menopause after 5 years on the drug. They seemed to be an intelligent person with a good job but came across as being completely clueless that this could happen to them. I don’t know if they were made aware but didn’t listen or what but I was surprised how little they knew about the consequences. It’s bad enough having the mood swings, hot flushes, brain fog, weight gain etc and feeling miserable in your later years so I can only imagine in your 20’s, when all your peers are out there enjoying their lives, going through it, must be horrible.

I believe in the tooth fairy. How dare anyone question me on my beliefs.

There’s money to be made in getting a life long patient - never ending money stream in getting a biological woman to take cross sex hormones for life and then the additional medical cost of dealing with the damage to endocrine and skeletal systems. Oh and the mental health implications of living in a mutilated and hormone addled body.

Pity the Dad has no boundaries with parenting to protect their child.

Well done Mum. Living in truth has a high price - but I believe your daughter will always know you cared for her above all.

Indeed, and that article includes some shameless scaremongering information. Testosterone does not cause osteoporosis, there are many papers out there for anyone who wants to factcheck which shows taking testosterone has either no effect on bone density or actually increases it. It's trans women who take oestrogen who have a slight increased risk of osteoporosis. There's also no evidence testosterone increases the risk of hormone sensitive cancers, and reasons to think it might actually reduce the risk since it supresses the production of oestrogen which drives those cancers. Trans men have a reduced risk of breast cancer even prior to top surgery, and of course if they do have top surgery and/or a hysterectomy as part of their treatment it further reduces any risk of cancer in those areas. Given breast cancer is the most common cancer in people assigned female at birth, that represents a significant reduction in overall cancer risk. I'm not even sure where this assertion comes from, it might be a misunderstanding of some research which shows that taking testosterone can increase tumour size in men who have prostate cancer, but of course that doesn't apply to trans men.