treatment

Featured Trans* Jersey

Manifesto 2014

Trans* Jersey’s manifesto defines the problems faced by transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, androgynous, bigender and intersex Jersey residents in 2014 and explains what actions we intend to take to address these issues.

DoctorTrans* Jersey believes that the island’s trans population is being patchily served by GPs and the States of Jersey Health and Social Services (“H&SS”) Department. This is due to the lack of clear guidelines for healthcare professionals working with trans patients. Individual clinicians within the H&SS Department are not seen to be at fault and, once the H&SS Department has been accessed, experiences of care have been good to excellent, largely through the efforts of the clinician acting on their own initiative. However, the initial route into healthcare for trans patients is unclear. The evidence suggests that the quality of healthcare provided is also influenced by the tenacity and perseverance of the trans individual being treated.

GenderRecActTrans* Jersey supports the calls by trans* organisations in the UK that the process for procuring a gender recognition certificate (“GRC”) needs revision. The Gender Recognition (Jersey) Law 2010 allows for a GRC from a recognised jurisdiction to be passed in the Royal Court. Any revisions that happen to the UK Gender Recognition Act 2004 as a result of the consultation happening with trans* organisations will, therefore, directly affect trans islanders. At present, Jersey has no mechanism by which to issue a GRC. However, this may change if trans* organisations within the UK are successful in calling for the Gender Recognition Act to be scrapped and for the issuance of a GRC to be an administrative process driven by the trans individual.

lawTrans* Jersey is committed to ensuring that all States of Jersey legislation that directly affects trans* islanders is scrutinised and responded to on behalf of the Jersey trans* community in order to safeguard our human rights. Trans* Jersey is currently preparing a response to both the States of Jersey consultation on sex discrimination and the imminent debate on equal marriage. Trans* Jersey will also be reviewing all legislation in force to ensure that there are no revisions that need to be called for.

equal marriageTrans* Jersey believes that equal marriage legislation is essential to ensure that trans islanders are not discriminated against, and that any equal marriage law introduced in Jersey should not contain the so-called Spousal Veto. Trans islanders who are married or in a civil partnership at the time of their transition have no option currently but to get divorced before they can acquire a full GRC. On the granting of a full GRC, the couple may formalise their partnership again by having another wedding ceremony. This situation is patently in violation of all human rights.

TeacherTrans* Jersey believes that education is the key to many of the issues faced by trans* individuals in society and is therefore committed to providing opportunities and resources to cisgender islanders in order that they can learn more about the trans* population. In the coming months, Trans* Jersey will be seeking conversations with private schools and the States of Jersey Education, Sport and Culture (“ES&C”) Department about including trans* issues within the sex education curriculum.

These are not the only issues faced by trans* individuals in Jersey, but they are the most important ones to be addressed. We are a small group with no financial backing. This manifesto is, therefore, necessarily realistic in its aims. It is not possible to hit all targets at once so we are being selective. Once progress has been made on these issues, we can turn our attention to other areas where reform is needed.

You can download the complete manifesto as a pdf here.

Trans* Jersey

Medical treatment of trans* people

Because there are no specialist gender healthcare professionals in Jersey, all trans* islanders have to go abroad for treatment. Most will, at least initially, go to the UK. Therefore, any issues that trans* organisations have with the UK healthcare system are shared by Jersey trans* individuals.

In addition to producing a report on the health of trans* individuals, GIRES also identifies three main areas of concern:

Multiple referral for treatment 

Current treatment protocols often require two referrals before cross sex hormones, or chest reconstruction, or genital surgery, etc are authorised. This causes delays. No other medical treatment requires two referrals so why are trans people singled out for a “special” treatment protocol.

Man and psychiatristRefusal to treat

If a trans person has been treated for gender dysphoria in the private system or overseas, that person’s treatment on the NHS may be delayed. No other such patient is refused treatment on the NHS for any other condition.

Health providers must be challenged to provide the equality analysis that justifies treating trans people in a different manner from other service users.

Delays in receiving treatment for young people

A young trans person can benefit hugely from an early medical intervention to ensure that the damage done, both physically and psychologically, from an inappropriate puberty can be minimised, where there is a clear clinical need established.

Delaying treatment for young people can have a disproportionate impact. A delay of (for example) three years in treating a 30 year old gender dysphoric person will not significantly change the physical outcome on the transition as the individual will have already developed adult sexual characteristics. However, for the 11 year old, the situation is completely different. However, both patients will suffer psychological stress due to the delay.

Again, Health providers must be challenged to provide the equality analysis that justifies treating trans people in a different manner from other service users.

As we have stated elsewhere, it should be noted that Jersey trans* people can avoid some or all of the above problems if they have the resources to navigate the system privately or semi-privately. In which case, they may not find the above to be an issue in their transition.