BF2S Forums Transgender people are now allowed into the military

the government just folded the entirety of NHS england this week as part of a huge cost-cutting/reorganisation measure. things like clinics specialising in child sex changes have unfortunately been in the front-line of the culture war justifying a lot of this stuff.

sure, i'll read that.

there was quite a lot of back-and-forth about it in the LRB a few years ago. it was one of the only places in the british media to let a worker with extensive experience inside the clinic actually present her perspective, at much greater length than a 10-minute tv interview or newspaper inches would allow. the letters section carried most of the ensuing criticism.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n23 … wren/diary

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n17 … difference

this is only to give the faintest précis – and a fairly genteel, north london intellectual one at that – on a wider story that bubbled for quite a while in the british press about the tavistock clinic and its practices. it did come under a lot of scrutiny, including an official independent review:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati … ent-report

the reply to which you can read by the (now defunct) nhs england bureaucracy:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nh … ng-people/

this was known as 'the cass review', and it was critical enough of the practice to recommend it to close down. so make of that what you will: the review was independent and consulted widely within the medical profession.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62335665

this was concluded and made its recommendations in 2024. nobody receiving a letter today, in march 2025, would presumably be surprised that major changes were underway in the way that the NHS handles this particular hot potato.

[writing in 2024]:There will be no immediate changes for people already under the Tavistock's care.

Keira Bell, who brought a High Court case against Tavistock challenging its use of puberty blockers, said she was pleased it was closing, adding: "Many children will be saved from going down the path that I went down."

LGBT rights group Stonewall said it was pleased the NHS was addressing "unacceptable" waiting times faced by young trans people trying to access gender-identity healthcare.

tl;dr: this particular institution, which was the 'leading' model institution for this type of care, became enmired in a multi-year saga of shit, including a lot of whistleblowing from inside the building, and came to be a focal point for all sorts of culture wars mudslinging. institutional politics got in the way of medical care (also it was possibly not performing well in its core duties; a number of youth suicides were reported downstream). it was recommended to be closed and for the NHS to rethink/reorganise how it approaches the whole thing.

Last edited by uziq (2025-03-17 05:51:48)

the LRB is pretty funny on occasion, once you get used to its clipped and restrained bloomsbury style.

though even with context, i feel that letter will still look annoying.

to be sure, but just to make the point that it isn't some kneejerk MAGA-lite reactionary thing. there's been official reviews into this topic ongoing for several years now, which unfortunately yes have added to waiting times/delays and complicated treatment.

Last edited by uziq (2025-03-17 07:15:39)