The Trans Labour Ward
Trans Women To Be Barred From Single Sex NHS Wards?
The Labour Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on tv yesterday that he supports trans women being barred from single sex hospital wards.
So, why doesn’t Wes want want trans women on the women’s ward? Well, whether he actually believes it or not - he’s trying his best to dog-whistle the idea that we are all potential rapists. Let’s not beat around the bush here, that is absolutely the implication he, and Labour in general, are making. And so, because of this - we need to be segregated from the very same women we share our lives and spaces with every single day.
What if your surgeon is a trans woman? Should she be barred from saving the life of anyone who doesn’t match her chromosomes, on the astronomical off chance she decides to rape them instead? (don’t worry, when was the last time you saw a trans surgeon, anyway? Or a trans woman in any meaningful position of authority for that matter).
Don’t most sexual assaults happen in the home? Will male family members be banned from visiting? Will the patients be allowed to even go home at all after their treatment, or do you have to live in the women's-only-ward forever, like some kind of sterile commune?
And do you really think the NHS is going to insist on female-only nurses to patrol these wards, with the kind of cuts they’re already suffering through? I think they’ll take anyone they can get at this point. What about women who have been sexually assaulted by other women? It happens. Will they be offered their own separate ward too? Where are all these separate wards coming from, anyway? Is the NHS in any position whatsoever to accommodate this, or is it all hypothetical? Tell us, Wes.
They’ll tell you that they only have the “best interests of women and girls at heart” - meaning that their “best interests” are to make sure they’re nowhere near trans women like me. Their best interests are to be scared of us. Let's imagine for one bizarre second that Wes Streeting’s fears about trans people are justified. In this scenario, an ill trans woman is sent to a special “trans only” ward, to keep her away from the vulnerable “real” women. Ok, that’s great for them - but what about this trans woman? By Labour’s own logic, by her now being among other trans women - her risk of assault has just gone up exponentially. So for Labour, it’s ok if it’s a trans woman getting raped - as long as it’s by another trans woman?
I guess the only answer for trans people at this point is to not get ill? Or maybe we should start our own practices, in the alleys behind the hospitals - offering below par standards of care to our own kind? Maybe we can start our own economy too, while we’re at it & have special tranny schools and churches? Seems practical.
Wasn’t Labour at one point in time a party interested in inclusion? Didn’t it want to fight for the marginalized and strive to bring about a fairer Britain? I swear they were banging on about something like that…
Isn’t it a little bit ironic that you can (hypothetically, at least) get gender affirming care on the NHS - but when it comes to having that identity recognised by the NHS things suddenly get complicated? You can’t pump me full of female hormones for 10 years and then tell me I’m not allowed in the pink-wing. That’s like giving someone a plate full of biscuits smeared in dog shit.
The thing about Wes Streeting is, he’s a gay man. I don’t want to be alarmist or anything, but I’m actually very very concerned about what might happen if he has to go into hospital one day and is put on an all-men’s ward. After all, anyone who isn’t a cis-woman is a potential rapist, so what if he rapes another man? He is gay after all… I’m not saying he is a rapist, I’m just saying he could do something. I dunno, it’s something to think about isn’t it…