Wes Streeting met with anti-trans group accused of promoting ‘conversion therapy’
(Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Wes Streeting met with members of a parent support group that has been accused of promoting “conversion therapy” for trans youngsters, a resurfaced clip has revealed.
As reported by QueerAF, the health secretary was interviewed on camera last June, in the lead-up to the general election, by a representative of the What is a Woman campaign, a gender-critical group which asked MPs for their definitions of sex and gender.
The campaign’s name is the often-used anti-trans dog-whistle, what is a woman?
In the resurfaced clip, Wes Streeting, who implemented a permanent ban on puberty blockers for trans youngsters, said he met with members of Bayswater Support Group, an organisation which bills itself as a place for “parents, whose children have a transgender identity, to talk, share and be understood”.
He said the government was committed to a trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban but added “having met with Bayswater parents, I think that’s been a – I’d go so far as to say – traumatic experience for some of those families, and that’s really stuck with me”.
An investigation by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism published in July revealed that in some Bayswater-run Discord channels, parents shared stories of them refusing to send their trans children to gender-affirming therapists, revoking internet access, cutting them off from supportive friends and throwing away LGBTQ+-focused items.
One parent said they had destroyed several of their child’s binders and issued an ultimatum when they purchased another.
“I told [them] to go and get [their] phone, laptop and tablet, and that [they weren’t] getting them back until [they] give up [their] binder,” the post read.
Another parent posted a message saying they would not send their child to a therapist who in any way affirmed their trans identity. “I can’t get [my child] much support for [their] sexual assault because our local rape crisis offers the affirmation model. I don’t know where else to turn,” they wrote.
A spokesperson for Trans Kids Deserve Better, which last year occupied the ledge outside NHS England’s headquarters and held a die-in protest at Victoria Station, told QueerAF: “It is diabolical that groups like Bayswater and Genspect [an international gender-critical group that opposes gender affirmation] were given more regard in the consultation to permanently ban puberty blockers [than] transgender children, the people the ban directly affects.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told PinkNews: “Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. We are putting young people’s safety first with an evidence-based approach to the puberty blockers ban which is in line with recommendation of the independent Commission on Human Medicines.
“This government is making good progress in improving NHS gender services to ensure children and young people get the holistic and supportive care they need.”
PinkNews did not receive a response from the Bayswater Support Group after asking for a comment.
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