Non-Binary and Intersex People Are Being Ignored in the UK
This is what research shows…
I’m sat in my GP’s office, twiddling my thumbs, crying about how much of a burden my breasts are and how I need help to find a mastectomy surgeon as soon as I can. I’m in pain all the time physically, as well as my own psychological dysphoria. My doctor sighs, slaps an NHS Gender Identity Clinic form on the table and grunts at me: ‘You know it’s over a year wait, right?’ Great. We go through name, age, weight, height, then: ‘So you identify as a trans man, right?’ Nope. When I tell my doctor I’m non-binary, I can’t help but notice the eye roll and another sigh as he stamps it and throws it in an envelope nonchalantly.
Thing is, I’ve talked to many of my UK non-binary friends who have been through the GIC. One wonderful human waited 2 years, walked in after spending a fortune in getting to London, excited to get on with their life and was told: ‘So this is what transgender means…’ A trans woman that applied to GIC at the same time got oestrogen immediately and my non-binary friend is still waiting to be heard.
The Scottish Trans Alliance issued a research paper on how much non-binary people are being ignored within the NHS and the statistics are absolutely astounding. Over 84% of people interviewed felt like their gender identity wasn’t valid in NHS institutions including the GIC, 83% felt that they were even more isolated or excluded after NHS consultations on their gender identity, 76% reported having lower self-esteem, and 65% claimed having poorer mental health as a consequence of going to the people that are supposed to help them.
What’s worse is that some people are point blank being refused services because of their gender identity — 34% of the participants in the survey said they were told by medical services that they didn’t know enough about the gender identity to help them and 11% said they were refused point blank any further help or services.
So, what on earth is happening in 2020 that still makes the UK Health Services prejudiced?
Shockingly, third gender identities still aren’t classified by law in the UK. Who would have thought? Our gracious motherland that continually shames other countries for their lack of liberal stances, and yet, it’s citizens can only identify as ‘male’ or ‘female’.
This came to a head when a petition of over 30,000 signatures was offered to parliament in order to reform the Gender Recognition Act of 2004, to which the Ministry of Justice responded: “Non-binary gender is not recognised in UK law. Under the law of the United Kingdom, individuals are considered by the state to be of the gender that is registered on their birth certificate, either male or female.”
The statement not only completely invalidates non-binary and non-conforming people, but also intersex people. Intersex people are born with a mix of male and female attributes — whether that is equal divide of hormones, mixed genitalia and varying chromosomes.
How does this law affect them?
Only by allowing genital mutilation from parents from an early age. As the UK wants a clear response ‘”male” or “female’, parents of intersex kids have to essentially decide, either alone or with an outdated medical view, which one their child is. This results in parents choosing cosmetic surgeries for their kids, sometimes before the ages of 3 to determine their gender. Horrific. These intersex surgeries have increased on the NHS since 2006 (Creighton, 2014) and groups such as Intersex UK are actively lobbying to the UN and EU to claim that the UK should be held accountable for these clear Human Rights abuses.
The UK is also ignoring and refusing to adhere to the Malta Declaration — from the Third International Intersex Forum in 2013, in which law dictates that countries must ‘put an end to mutilating and ‘normalising’ practices such as genital surgeries, psychological and other medical treatments through legislative and other means. Intersex people must be empowered to make their own decisions affecting own bodily integrity, physical autonomy and self-determination.’
The UK not only ignores this rule and allows this to happen but also ignores the integral part of the Malta Declaration which is: ‘All adults and capable minors should be able to choose between female (F), male (M), non-binary or multiple options. In the future, as with race or religion, sex or gender should not be a category on birth certificates or identification documents for anybody.’ (Malta Declaration, 2014)
In this sense, the UK and its health services are deliberately committing human rights violations by plainly keeping intersex and non-binary people out of law — identities and genders proven by science to exist.
If their own country and law can’t protect non-binary people, it is no wonder the problems that non-binary and intersex people face daily — 46% percent of trans individuals have thought about taking their life and 41% of non-binary people said they wanted to harm themselves. (Stonewall, LGBT in Britain, Health Report)
We, as a country, need to change our ideas and start helping people, even if we lack understanding. If not, who knows how many more lives will be at stake.
