Judges approved the advancement of a trial in a case against the Tavistock gender clinic in London where a 23-year-old woman says she was severely harmed by experimental treatments as part of gender transitioning when she was a teenager.
According to the Sunday Times, one of the most senior judges in the UK’s High Court, Mr Justice Supperstone, said it was ‘plainly arguable’ that England’s first paediatric child gender clinic was not acting lawfully when it referred children to go on hormonal agents meant to halt normal pubertal development.
Supperstone granted permission for a full trial before the end of July.
Consent not possible
Lawyers for Keira Bell, who underwent a hormonal transition at the clinic when she was a teenager, will argue that children cannot give consent.
The opposition, however, maintains that the experimental treatments save the lives of youth who self-identify as the opposite sex.
Fast tracked
Bell was referred to the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) when she was 16, and said that after three appointments she was prescribed puberty blockers. She now believes the risks of the drugs were never adequately explained to her and that the process to transition her both chemically and surgically was fast tracked. Bell took the puberty-blocking drugs for a year and then continued down the transition pathway with testosterone, which caused her voice to deepen and facial hair growth. She had her breasts amputated three years ago. In 2019 she decided to quit taking cross-sex hormones.
‘Initially, I felt very relieved and happy about things. But I think as the years go on you start to feel less and less enthusiastic or even happy about things,’ Bell said.
Bell is angry about how she was treated at the clinic. She now accepts she is female.
