SINN FÉIN HAS come in for stinging criticism over its support in Northern Ireland for a temporary ban on puberty medication for transgender youth.
Stormont first and deputy ministers Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly gave approval to Northern Ireland Health Minister Mike Nesbitt’s decision to extend the UK government’s ban on puberty blockers last week.
The ban will be effective from tomorrow.
There has been a backlash to the decision, with a protest called for outside Sinn Féin’s Dublin HQ tomorrow in solidarity with trans teenagers in the North.
Trans and non-binary members of ROSA described puberty blockers as an “essential part of healthcare” for transgender young people and demanded that Sinn Féin reverse its decision.
Nesbitt, an Ulster Unionist Party MLA, said the approval to extend the temporary ban was in lieu of a “long-term solution” on the issue and would curb Northern Ireland becoming a “potential back door” for transgender youth in Britain seeking to access medication to delay the effects of puberty.
Explaining the decision on X, Nesbitt said “clinical trials will help inform” a longer-term decision on the issue.
DUP MLA Little-Pengelly has defended the decision, replying to criticism on social media to say that it was “in line with and accepting the professional and medical advice” provided to the executive. O’Neill has yet to comment on the decision to support the ban.
Earlier this year, the former Conservative government in the UK used emergency legislation to introduce the ban curbing the use of the puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.
Puberty blockers are now only available to under-18s with gender dysphoria who are already taking the medication. They can also be used in NHS clinical trials.
This ban was extended by Keir Starmer’s Labour government when it took office in recent weeks.
With the Stormont executive’s decision, it will bring the North into line with Britain this week.
Trans advocacy groups in the UK have been critical of the move to ban puberty blockers, saying they are an important part of some people’s treatment.
Moves to restrict treatment for transgender youth in Britain came following the publication of the Cass Review in April. Commissioned by the UK government, it reported that the pillars of gender medicine are “built on shaky foundations”, citing a lack of evidence on the impacts of puberty blockers and hormone treatments.
The review was led by Dr Hilary Cass, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. It also found that healthcare for people questioning their gender “needs to be improved across the board”.
The Alliance party spokesperson said that the the Cass review “did not review clinical services or pathways in Northern Ireland”, arguing that its findings might not be fully applicable to the region.
They added that they awaited the outcome of a review commissioned by Northern Ireland’s Department of Health.
The spokesperson said: “The well-being of young people and their families must be at the heart of our decision-making when we discuss this issue.”
People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll was among those criticising the decision of the Nesbitt and the executive’s leaders. He said that puberty blockers are “safe and in use around the world” and that the focus on trans people was a “distraction” from the area’s wider health problems.
“The Health Minister is attacking trans people to distract from the crisis in the health service,” Carroll said on social media.
“Puberty blockers are safe and in use around the world. The Stormont Executive knows this – but they are lashing out at an oppressed minority to distract from their own failures.”
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said the party “accepts the current medical advice” from the Chief Medical Officer, which it said will “be kept under review until a definitive policy decision” has been made.
“It’s vital that clinicians continue to engage empathetically with young people who are seeking gender-affirming healthcare,” the spokesperson said.
“We are aware that the British Medical Association has recently launched a review of the Cass Report, and we will monitor the conclusions of this review when it is published later in the year.
“To be clear, our position is that clinical and health care is best determined by doctors and clinicians – not politicians – and needs to be informed by the clinical and scientific evidence.”
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