I am feeling betrayed.

I believed that the labour party were going to be different to the Tories when it comes to transgender in particular and LGBTQIA+ rights in general, but no, it seems I was wrong. Yes, on one hand they promise an inclusive conversion therapy ban, but then they put a huge loophole in it with respect to trans kids by continuing with the undemocratic and morally unjustified puberty blocker and trans healthcare ban for youth unless they undergo an exhaustive and intensive programme of interviews and questioning about their identity - which sounds like conversion therapy to me and to many others. All justified on the holy grail of the Cass Report, a report that is the lowest quality form of scientific paper in that it is no more than a literature review and which has been discredited by every major international medical and psychiatric institution that has any involvement with transgender care. Mostly because far from being a fair and balanced review of the literature on the subject it demoted (meaning ignored) anything that was not published in English and anything that did not meet its own unethical gold standard of a double-blind study, and generally anything that did not meet its own anti-trans biased preconceptions - it also made unsubstantiated and unjustified claims. One of the latest to report negatively on it is no less than Yale University one of the premier medical universities in the world.

The ban on puberty blockers introduced immediately following the Bell v Tavistock case and only partially rescinded when that case was successfully appealed has already cost the lives of 16 young people, how many more have to die before the government and society wake up to the fact that being transgender is not a lifestyle choice, it is not a fad or a phase, it is not something new. We are valid and genuine; we have always been here and we always will be here and we do not pose a threat to anyone else or their rights. There are copious amounts of evidence that the treatments and healthcare we have been receiving save lives and that the regret rates are extremely low, even many years afterwards.

And finally, I read today that one of the vilest anti-trans people on Twitter, the multi-millionaire author of some wizardly children's books, is a trans ally - please do not believe this, she is most definitely not yet she gets an audience with the Prime Minister whereas none of the transgender support organisations do, how is it fair to legislate against a group without at least involving that group.

For a government of the same party that introduced the Gender Recognition Act and the Equalities Act 2010 as well as revoking Section 28, I find it shameful in the extreme that they perpetuate this bigoted and frankly distressing policy that is no less than a continuation of the culture wars started by the previous government.

My hope remains, however, that this is more to do with prioritising the more essential social issues the country faces than an inherent anti-trans bias and that the next King's speech will contain some more tangible benefits - but how many more kids have to die before then?