ArrelApr 10, 2024
Sarah Brown

Dear UK residents. I’m sorry to be tedious, but I’m going to do the trans Cassandra thing again.

The government is now moving towards regarding trans people as effective children until the age of 25.

This will be established as precedent and then used to screw over any and all young adults who can’t escape from abusive parents, especially young women.

If you want to do anything about this, you need to fight for trans people. Yes, you. Now.

We all know that isn’t going to happen to any significant extent though.

As you were.

Apr 10, 2024 at 10:21amWeb
Show threadMitsunee | 光音Apr 10, 2024
@goatsarah the "just a child" defense for removing a person's freedom has already been used on me twice, just to screw me over later when I wasn't 18 yet. Having that extended to 25 would've resulted in me never reaching that age...
Show threadSarah BrownApr 10, 2024
@mitsunee this is the intended effect, I’m sure.
Show threadMitsunee | 光音Apr 10, 2024
@goatsarah gotta love wanting to unalive myself because of decisions about my own body made by "adults who know better" causing irreversible damage before I was ever permitted autonomy over my own life (: /s
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKApr 10, 2024
@goatsarah its already happened in provincial areas of UK (with high levels of Tory support) since about 15 years ago; used against "troubled" young adults who had got into lifestyles which involve recreational drug use
Show threadAriaflameApr 10, 2024
@goatsarah Because of course the next step is to treat all people under 25 as effective children.
Show threadSarah BrownApr 10, 2024
@ariaflame pretty much. They always do it to us first because nobody complains, so it’s a way in.
Show threadRachel GreenhamApr 10, 2024

@goatsarah @christineburns they want to break Gillick competence. Trans kids are the wedge they're using. But as in the US, they were never going to stop there.

And extending "children" to refer to people up to 25 is also, as you say, not going to stop with trans people.

Show threadMr Lawrence 🇪🇺🇷🇼Apr 10, 2024
@goatsarah I agree completely. I have no real stake in the #Trans community but it seems obvious even to an ignorant cis/het like me that 18 is the obvious age for anyone, with a question for those better-informed than I am as to whether it should be 16 to match the age of consent.
Show threadHighlandLawyerApr 10, 2024
@LMac1970 @goatsarah In Scotland age of legal capacity is 16. There are special provisions for Young Adults up to 18 to apply to court to prevent them being screwed over in contracts due to their age, and there are still the other "age restricted" items, but they can vote (in non-Westminster election) & generally are legally adult. There doesn't seem to be any problems with it.
Show threadMr Lawrence 🇪🇺🇷🇼Apr 10, 2024
@HighlandLawyer @goatsarah Quite. It seems weird that the report author has suddenly pulled 25 out of a hat! 👍🏻
Show threadFlorida TedApr 10, 2024
@goatsarah In the US, there are some who want to change the voting age from 18 to 21 (or more).
Show threadIndyzign 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Apr 10, 2024

@goatsarah my daughter is trans. She knew from about the age of 14 that she was trans. When we looked in to what she could expect through the NHS, we knew she’d be well in to her 20s by the time anything happened. #notgoodenough

On a side note, we have found that the whole of friends/family/friends of friends have been super supportive with very little negativity. Even in the heart of the Welsh valleys 🙂

Some idiots threatened violence because “trans” but … they learned

Show threadGeofCoxApr 10, 2024

@JamieR

One of my daughters is trans too, currently transitioning. She is a British citizen but we live in France - as you can imagine, the legal transition has been complicated! - but I have to say the French health service has been great (as it is in every respect, as far as I know).

We too have found family and friends supportive. My wife was very worried about telling her mother - elderly and very conservative - but her positive reaction surprised everybody. One of the first things she said was that she had some understanding because there had been a trans character in one of the UK soaps she watches - which shows positive media portrayals really do help people.

@goatsarah

Show threadIndyzign 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Apr 10, 2024
@GeofCox @goatsarah my father-in-law (I’m a widower now) is in his eighties and deeply religious, I expected some sort of ‘issue’ but he’s been very accepting too. I realise that not everyone is this lucky, and that there is still a lot of prejudice in the world, but so far, we’ve found very little resistance. Thankfully
Show threadJinsheiApr 10, 2024
@goatsarah Email to MP sent with references to solid sources to help her grasp basic facts.
Show threadSarah BrownApr 10, 2024
@Jinshei thanks x
Show threadJinsheiApr 11, 2024
@goatsarah I have two trans boys. I've also emailed labour since it was Wes Streeting, to highlight it to our candidate. There is 525 votes in it here so...
Show threadJinsheiApr 12, 2024
@goatsarah labour candidate came back with all the things I want, including saying how well trans people do when they get treatment. He is a good lad.
Show threadSeán FenianApr 10, 2024
@[email protected] This is a step toward making trans people non-persons. ​​
Show threadSarah BrownApr 10, 2024
@zakalwe it’s a step towards making anyone who isn’t a cishet neurotypical white man a non person. Trans people in the uk are pretty much already there.
Show threadSeán FenianApr 11, 2024
@[email protected] A RICH cishet neurotypical white man. And probably "conservative".
Show threadCrocketApr 10, 2024
@goatsarah not a area I know a lot about, but are they increasing the age or recognising in law for the first time. If the latter then it is progress, even though it is not a great start but it gives a point to reform from and bring it to a more acceptable level. Patience is required for change otherwise you scare the establishment. Look at the changes to the laws and the acceptance of homosexuality since the 60’s.
Show threadSarah BrownApr 10, 2024

@crocket2001 no. It’s rolling back stuff we already had. This has been happening for 20 years, since the ECHR stood up for us against the British government.

And what they do to us, they will do to the rest of you later.

Show threadkætApr 12, 2024

@crocket2001 @goatsarah

I think it's easy to underestimate how far most people have moved on this already. (Not that *most* makes it safe). There seem to be two groups pushing this:

1. boring folk who moan about the metric system, car parks, youth of today, ULEZ, "they're all as bad as each other", immigrants, etc.

2. Westminster-y policy type people, both left and right, professional dinner-party attenders, columnists, writers, wonks, essayists, student union types.

The (dangerous) difference now is that these groups -- our society's loudest, most boring, dull, dim, and reactionary, who only differ in social class -- are united on one subject.

The public don''t need to "come round".

People think Guardianista idealists lay out liberation's groundwork -- surveyors going ahead. But they're just apologists hanging on the coat-tails of emperors, minting excuses for comfortable lives at court. The powerful, their "clients", are moving right, so they're representing them, coining theories and writing reports.

Show threadLlwynogApr 10, 2024
@goatsarah I'm in my mid-30s now. I started HRT aged 19, had my mastectomy aged 20, hysterectomy aged 22 and phalloplasty aged 23. It was the best decision ever and I am sure I wouldn't be here if that hadn't been an option. There's no way I, aged 18 and suffering from crippling dysphoria, could have gone on another 7 years without medical care. The UK's plans to ban transition until age 25 makes me feel sick. It feels like an assault on my very existence.