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Ludovic Parsons

@ludovicparsons.bsky.social
796 followers 356 following 33 posts

🗞️ Queer British journalist 🕵🏻‍♂️ Investigations @wearequeeraf.com 🏳️‍⚧️ He/him ludovicparsons.com

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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
Emma Bainbridge @eksbainbridge.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Spent the week looking into a Renfrewshire Councillor who will be taking Community union to court this Friday (funded by a private donor) to force them to implement EHRC guidance. We found that she hasn't declared the company set up to fight the case on her councillor register of interests.
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 04/09/2026
We return to our scoop in tomorrow's newsletter, revealing the first estimate of just how many people are affected, as well as speaking to patients who had their surgeries cancelled Subscribe to support our Trans+ journalists. Join 10K readers tomorrow morning 👇 📨 wearequeeraf.com/subscribe
wearequeeraf.com
Tired of doom scrolling for quality queer content? Get it here
Get an award-winning summary of queer news explained, bursting with LGBTQIA+ content every Saturday morning
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
this is a new low for the BBC. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Welsh Gender Service: Transgender patients told surgery cancelled in hospital
One patient said they were "heartbroken" after being told their surgery was called off 24 hours before.
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Abigail Thorn @theabigailthorn.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
NHS cancelling surgeries for adults even after they’ve already paid for travel + accommodation and waited years to get there. Some were about to be wheeled into theatre! Every manager responsible for this decision must be sacked and every patient paid compensation.
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Ruth Pearce @notrightruth.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This is the most fucked up and immediately harmful policy decision I think I've ever seen in adult trans healthcare in the UK, and that's saying something. The Welsh Gender Service is one of the best in the country. It is widely praised by the patients it helps. That is why it is being targeted.
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 28/08/2026
🚨🆕 @wearequeeraf.com and @whatthetrans.com can reveal that the NHS has cancelled all gender-affirming surgeries for adult patients of the Welsh Gender Service Some trans patients received the news just days or even hours before they were due to take place 👇 www.wearequeeraf.com/nhs-cancels-...
wearequeeraf.com
NHS cancels all gender-affirming surgeries for adult patients of Welsh Gender Service with immediate effect
Some trans patients received news their surgeries had been cancelled just days or even hours before they were due to take place
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This section by the awesome @ludovicparsons.bsky.social in QAF sums up in a nutshell the nature of the entire campaign against trans people by the rightwing media establishment. These “journalists” are also the ones claiming that - somehow - trans people are silencing transphobes.
Seventeen thousand articles were published about so-called 'trans issues' by just four British newspapers in five years, according to new research from Amnesty International UK.
The vast majority of the reporting excludes Trans+ perspectives and platforms' anti-trans talking points, the research found.
The four newspapers - The Sun, The Times, The Guardian and The Telegraph - mentioned JK Rowling 106 times in their coverage, with 202 mentions of a prime minister or political party leader.
Trans people themselves were mentioned by name just 24 times. Sixteen of those mentions were murdered teen Brianna Ghey, and eight were convicted rapist Isla Bryson.
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TransActual @transactualuk.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The newly published EHRC Code of Practice leaves trans people in the UK today with less rights than they had prior to last year’s Supreme Court ruling. Read our full statement here: transactual.org.uk/blog/2026/05...
Text reads: Updated statement on the new Code of Practice.  

The newly published EHRC Code of Practice leaves trans people in the UK today with less rights than they had prior to last year’s Supreme Court ruling.

Not only does this new guidance fail to protect the rights and dignity of transgender people, but appears to have weakened protections for the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. Rather than engage with our community with respect, the Government has instead withheld publishing its new Code of Practice until as late as possible.

Full statement on our website Text reads: Updated statement on the new Code of Practice.  

TransActual will continue to fight for equal access to public life for all trans people, and will publish our full thoughts on the new Code once we have had the time to properly scrutinise it – something that the Government seems keen to avoid.

Full statement on our website Text reads: Updated statement on the new Code of Practice.  

If you, or someone you know, is struggling with today’s news, please reach out to a mental health helpline that can listen and offer support:
Trans specific
Mindline Trans – 0300 330 5468 (open Friday evenings)
TRUK Listens – 0800 009 6640 (open 8am-midnight, 7 days a week)

LGBT+ specific
Black and Brown Rainbow – 0800 054 1097 (open 6pm-8pm on Mondays and Wednesdays), info@blackandbrownrainbow.com
LGBT Foundation Helpline – 0345 3 30 30 30 (open 9am-8:30pm Monday to Friday, 10am-5:30pm at the weekend)
LGBT+ Helpline Scotland – 0800 464 7000 (open 12pm-9pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 1pm-6pm on Sundays)
Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline – 0800 0119 100 (open 10am-10pm, 7 days a week)

Full statement on our website
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Wes Streeting says in this piece the 'honest truth' is he and Labour don't know what's behind rising demand for mental-health services. embarrassing for anyone to admit in a national paper that they can't join those dots, but especially so when you are literally the health secretary.
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
"Western feminism mobilises when violence can be framed as Islamic oppression or backward tradition, but retreats when the violence is produced by Western-backed power." www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...
aljazeera.com
Why are Western feminists silent on the war on Iranian women?
Those who backed Iranian women’s protests against compulsory hijab are silent as those same women are killed.
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
Miriam Quick @miriamquick.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I designed the graphics for this important story by @mccoolingtons.bsky.social and @ludovicparsons.bsky.social. Take care when reading, topic is upsetting.
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
if they can't manage an early start and long day without frequently getting pissed at work they'd be fired from a 'normal job'
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Why is this report not all over UK media? Because UK media has been not just complicit but an active participant in creating the conditions for trans people where suicide seems the only way.
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 25/04/2026
Alongside this story we're proud to support the launch of Trans Lives, a new UK memorial for Trans+ people “Our community knows too many trans people are falling through the gaps and being actively harmed by UK healthcare and society” @lucybrisbane.bsky.social www.translives.co.uk/about
Trans Lives
Open Menu
What we are doing
Trans Lives is a project about remembering and resisting. As bereaved families (chosen and official), trans+ advocates, lawyers, researchers and journalists we will:

Build a community evidence base and national data on the preventable and premature deaths of trans and non-binary people around the UK.

Co-create a public memorial sharing the stories of those who have died, to remember our loved ones and raise awareness of issues which contributed to deaths.

Support trans+ and bereaved people in work towards justice and change to prevent deaths and enable safer, healthier, happier lives for everyone.Why?
Everybody deserves to live a safe, healthy and happy life. When people die preventable or premature deaths, we should seek to understand what happened and identify patterns to ensure the same things don’t happen again. 

For trans and non-binary people, a disproportionate number of suicides and premature deaths are taking place. There is awareness and understanding in the community that not enough is being done to support the health and wellbeing of too many trans+ people

Yet nobody knows exactly how many trans+ people are dying preventable or premature deaths in the UK. There is no national data that gives a clear or accurate picture, and no collective analysis or understanding of the issues arising. 

Like many aspects of trans+ lives, our public understanding of deaths and policy on care is not informed by evidence or the voices of trans+ people or their families and friends. Trans Lives seeks to change that and build not only an evidence base but a memorial by and for our community.This is a long-term and independent project which is in the development stage. We are currently funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation. We are currently seeking onward funding. Learn how you can support us.

We have launched in partnership with QueerAF, the UK's only press-regulated, non-profit LGBTQIA+ publisher in the UK, who will be working to ensure people understand the nuance, humanity and details behind the project, through accessible explainers, journalism and platforming the stories of Trans Lives.
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QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 25/04/2026
"The loss of every single one of those young lives is an appalling tragedy" - @jolyon.goodlawproject.org Our new investigation with @goodlawproject.org shows Trans people are dying of suicide more than the general UK population 👇 www.wearequeeraf.com/trans-people...
Graphic that shows 50 dots, 23 are highlighted in white to show that based on 50 suicides and deaths noted as self inflicted in coroners reports of trans people, just under half were below the age of 18
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 25/04/2026
Content warning: trans suicide, self-harm and death Trans people are dying of suicide more than the general UK population our new investigation with @wearequeeraf.com shows ⬇️ goodlaw.social/p8ha
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Trans people are dying of suicide more than the general UK population. New investigation by me and @mccoolingtons.bsky.social, co-published by @wearequeeraf.com and @goodlawproject.org www.wearequeeraf.com/trans-people...
wearequeeraf.com
Trans people are dying of suicide more than the general UK population, new investigation reveals
Despite warning signs that trans people are dying of suicide more than the general UK population, official data remains inadequate – while rights and healthcare rollbacks continue
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
Owen Blacker @owen.blacker.me.uk · 10/04/2026
A great analysis of the legal status-quo for Trans+ people's employment rights in the UK www.wearequeeraf.com/workplace-ri... by @ludovicparsons.bsky.social
wearequeeraf.com
The historically pivotal court case, that is critical to the future UK Trans+ rights
Tracing Trans+ workers rights back to an unlikely Cornish case, which set out how Trans+ people can be discriminated against based on sex
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 08/04/2026
In 1996, a trans woman won a crucial legal right for Trans+ people in the workplace. What went wrong? @ludovicparsons.bsky.social traces the history in the final edition of Milestones 🏳️‍⚧️ www.wearequeeraf.com/workplace-ri...
wearequeeraf.com
The historically pivotal court case, that is critical to the future UK Trans+ rights
Tracing Trans+ workers rights back to an unlikely Cornish case, which set out how Trans+ people can be discriminated against based on sex
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 07/04/2026
In 1996, an unlikely Cornish case won a crucial legal right for Trans+ people in the workplace. Tomorrow, @ludovicparsons.bsky.social traces how we got those protections and what’s happening to them now. Join 10k readers following Milestones 👇 www.wearequeeraf.com/milestones/?...
A crowd of people walking across a city bridge. Overlaid text reads:
“TRANS+ WORKPLACE RIGHTS IN THE UK USED TO BE BETTER THAN PEOPLE THOUGHT
NOT ANY MORE. SO, WHAT HAPPENED?”
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Brief history of UK media transphobia and how it relates to contemporary coverage of 'gender critical' legal cases. for @wearequeeraf.com www.wearequeeraf.com/how-the-uk-m...
wearequeeraf.com
How UK media has wrongly shaped knowledge about the UK’s most important Trans+ legal cases
From outing Trans+ women to minimising legal successes, inflating “gender critical” power, the media has been failing in its responsibility to report fairly for decades
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
what vague meaningless waffle. has Starmer's speechwriter secretly defected to the Greens?
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Senthorun S. Raj @senthorun.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
“The gender clinic system is structurally flawed, working not for Trans+ people’s health and wellbeing but against Trans+ existence itself.” The views of cis people determine whether trans folk can access medical transition. We need a health system to better support trans people’s bodily autonomy.
wearequeeraf.com
A brief history of how the UK’s broken Trans+ healthcare system only serves its cisgender doctors
History shows us that the UK’s Trans+ healthcare system isn’t broken – it’s working exactly as it was meant to, right from the very start
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
Marty Hades 🔥💀 @smartypantsmarty.com · 11/03/2026
“The clinics and the diagnosis don’t have to exist.” Take the time out to get into this hugely informative and prescient long read from @ludovicparsons.bsky.social about the history of our healthcare. Our healthcare doesn’t have to and shouldn’t be this way.
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Jo Carter, @jo-jo64.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
This is absolutely fascinating. It taught me so much about the history of medical gender transition and why it is still so controlled. Long, but utterly brilliant. Please read. www.wearequeeraf.com/a-brief-hist...
wearequeeraf.com
A brief history of how the UK’s broken Trans+ healthcare system only serves its cisgender doctors
History shows us that the UK’s Trans+ healthcare system isn’t broken – it’s working exactly as it was meant to, right from the very start
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Reposted by Ludovic Parsons
Carrie plays guitar 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @carriem.co.uk · 11/03/2026
This is very good, describing very bad things.
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Jamie Wareham @jamiewareham.co.uk · 11/03/2026
Given the news about adult Trans+ healthcare reviews, and the removal of care for under 18s, this excellent piece of journalism by @ludovicparsons.bsky.social - is incredibly timely To fight back, we all need to better understand the system that was built to gatekeep, not help Trans+ people 👇
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
timely for this to be out this week: a longread from me about the history of trans healthcare in the UK i.e. why we are in the mess we are in featuring some historical enemies – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, John Randell – and an amazing line about gender doctors from @notrightruth.bsky.social
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Cal Horton (they/them) @fiercemum.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Important journalism by @sasha98.bsky.social, one of very few news outlets actually capturing the severity of the threat to trans children in the draft school guidance.
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Mallory Moore @sexabolition.blog · 18/02/2026
Worth noting that this risk of outing was one of the features that won Goodwin v UK in the European court of human rights. It's treatment institutionally that can cause outing that resulted in the UK losing against Christine Goodwin and being forced to implement the gender recognition act.
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
the powerful trans lobby is trying to raise just £8k to fund more trans+ investigative journalism at @wearequeeraf.com. you can donate to help us do that here: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/queeraf2026
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
get an accessible, straightforward explainer of today's High Court ruling against the Good Law Project's challenge to the EHRC interim guidance on single-sex spaces – direct to your inbox tomorrow morning. sign up here: www.wearequeeraf.com/subscribe/
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Not In Our Name (NION) Women @nionwomen.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
We heard last week from @ludovicparsons.bsky.social at the After Section 28 conference on the importance of journalism that both supports and employs LGBTQ+ people and their allies. QueerAF are a shining example, and they could reach a wider audience with a little more support
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Mallory Moore @sexabolition.blog · 12/02/2026
It's worth noting that this was also a pretext to open up new services designed and run by people who push an unproven pseudoscientific "Gender Exploratory Therapy" model that has been likened to conversion therapy by international experts.
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
when i started working as a journalist in 2014, there were trans reporters in multiple national newsrooms. almost all have left. the high output of anti-trans articles & the near absence of articles by trans journalists are two sides of the same coin: institutional transphobia in the UK media.
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
for 3 years in a row i've vowed to start writing on Substack, and this year i've actually gone and done it... whoever said third time's a charm was evidently onto something this first piece weaves together boats, climate change & the loss of a beloved cat ludovicparsons.substack.com/p/the-great-...
ludovicparsons.substack.com
The Great Flood
Grief, marshes and Storm Henk
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Lucy Brisbane Mckay @lucybrisbane.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Important new data uncovered by @ludovicparsons.bsky.social & @wearequeeraf.com 107 of 647 children who died by suicide in England were LGBTQ+ in 2019-2025. 46 of those were trans - this is disproportionate I spoke to Ludovic about how action needs to be taken⬇️ www.wearequeeraf.com/one-in-six-c...
wearequeeraf.com
One in six children who died by suicide were LGBTQ+, new data shows
Amid heated public debate about whether trans children are dying by suicide, campaigners say we need to "take the politics out of policymaking"
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Sex Matters lose twice: its judicial review is refused AND public opinion about trans swimmers is firmly against the 'gender critical' position 90% of 38,000 people oppose requiring trans swimmers to use separate changing rooms or swim in separate sessions news.cityoflondon.gov.uk/consultation...
news.cityoflondon.gov.uk
Consultation results published on Hampstead Heath bathing ponds
More than 38,000 people responded to the consultation86% felt the ponds should remain trans inclusive spacesResults will help inform an updated access policy for the pondsThe results of a consultation on future access arrangements at Hampstead Heath bathing ponds have been published, with 86% of respondents favouring keeping the current trans-in...
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QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 27/01/2026
🆕 Reports say, Equality watchdog the EHRC's code of practice is being "adapted" to: 👉 Lessen its impact on business 👉 Balance single-sex spaces with lives of Trans+ people This comes ahead of a critical ruling about the watchdog's actions, under it's previous chair. This is what we know 🧵
Screenshot of Guardian Website, with headline and deck that reads: 

EHRC’s guidance on single-sex spaces being adapted under ‘constructive’ new chair
Exclusive: Mary-Ann Stephenson said to have more pragmatic approach in trying to limit impact on trans people and on businesses

With picture of Mary-Ann Stephenson, a white woman with brown and red tinged hair, wearing glasses
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QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 18/12/2025
The Levy Review into adult gender services - commissioned following the Cass Review - is now out. We have a rapid response TLDR by @vic-parsons.bsky.social out this afternoon. Plus a larger, analytical look this weekend in the QueerAF newsletter. 👉 Join 9700+ readers: wearequeeraf.com/subscribe
Screenshot of NHS website with text: 

Date published: 18 December, 2025
Date last updated: 18 December, 2025
Gender identity, Specialised commissioning

Operational and delivery review of NHS adult gender dysphoria clinics in England
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Netpol @netpol.org · 09/12/2025
This isn't a criticism of the hunger strikers: it's a reflection of genuine fear that unless Labour has plans to add a 'Cat and Mouse Act' amendment to its Crime and Policing Bill, ministers are likely to let people die. We have to raise public awareness for the demand that the state blinks first.
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QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 08/12/2025
@wearequeeraf.com will keep prioritising stories mainstream titles won’t even consider. Support our accountability journalism, which helps you understand why the news is happening - so you know how to fight back 🤝
wearequeeraf.com
Information is a tool for liberation - help us fight back
We need to use nuanced, detailed analysis as the base for our activism. That's what QueerAF does best.
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QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 05/12/2025
One of the most significant hunger strikes in four decades is happening right now in UK prisons - and it was begun by queer activists 🧵
wearequeeraf.com
Tired of doom scrolling for quality queer content? Get it here
Get an award-winning summary of queer news explained, bursting with LGBTQIA+ content every Saturday morning
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QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 25/10/2025
"Gender clinics create the bottlenecks for treatment" @vic-parsons.bsky.social examines what it would take to fix the transgender healthcare crisis in the UK, and clear the 48,000 people waitlist 👇 www.wearequeeraf.com/gender-clini...
wearequeeraf.com
Gender Clinic Files: What would a healthcare system that works for Trans+ people look like in the UK?
What would it take to reduce the 48,000-person wait list for transgender healthcare in the UK?
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QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 09/10/2025
The national picture shows waiting times for gender identity clinics that far exceed the NHS's recommended maximum of 18 weeks. But drilling down into the data from our investigation, 'The Gender Clinic Files' reveals huge disparities across the UK 👉 www.wearequeeraf.com/gender-clini...
THE GENDER CLINIC FILES
12 YEARS
England
58 YEARS
Scotland
2 YEARS
Wales
41 YEARS
Northern Ireland
The average waiting times across the UK according to QueerAF analysis shows they vary wildly around the UK:

Estimated wait time for a first appointment as of March 2025 (in years) based on QueerAF analysis of data from FOIs

🔴 England - 12 years
🔴 Wales - 2 years
🔴 Scotland - 58 years
🔴 Northern Ireland - 41 years

This data is shown in an infographic with a map of the UK alongside logos of QueerAF and What The Trans?!
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What The Trans?! 🏳️‍⚧️ @whatthetrans.com · 04/10/2025
We have heard that the Green Party has passed a motion at conference calling for desegregation of trans healthcare and to end the practice of GICs and to move it to primary care. And you can definitely see why they voted for it here: www.wearequeeraf.com/gender-clini...
wearequeeraf.com
Some people in Scotland will never get gender clinic appointment on 224-year waitlist
Revealed waiting times of all GICs in UK: Most Trans+ people in the UK will wait more than a third of their adult life to get an appointment, and some will never receive care
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Ludovic Parsons @ludovicparsons.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
lots more to come this month in this new investigative series The Gender Clinic Files from @wearequeeraf.com and @whatthetrans.com – look out for the first podcast featuring @clairestranstalks.bsky.social diving deep into the data on Monday. Claire has done immense work on this 👏🏻
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