Protestors gathered outside Leinster House yesterday, October 25th, to rally for equitable access to gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people. The protest was organised by Transgress the NGS (National Gender Service), a coalition group demanding self-determined trans healthcare in Ireland.
The group marched to the Department of Health, chanting “Our bodies, our lives, our right to decide”, “Trans rights are under attack – Stand up, fight back”, and “Stephen Donnelly in your ivory tower, this is called people power” as they went. Outside the Department of Health, demonstrators held a sign reading “Informed Consent Now” and a banner reading “Trans Healthcare Now”.
The department building was occupied by eleven activists for over two hours. Helen Moynihan from Transgress the NGS stated that staff “ran us around in circles for two hours” as they tried to confirm a meeting with Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly.
The activists eventually met with Minister Donnelly’s secretary who said he would pass both the open letter and the meeting request onto Donnelly. The secretary said they will hear back within a month about whether they will get a meeting with the Minister.
Protestors were then threatened with arrest for occupying the building. Moynihan stated at one point there were “more Guards than activists in the building”.
Moynihan further commented that the whole ordeal is “really frustrating” and that Minister Donnelly and the NGS “consistently don’t follow through” with promised meetings. Moynihan stated it is clear that Transgress the NGS has a “popular mandate from the trans community in Ireland”, as evidenced by their open letter addressed to Minister Donnelly that has received over 1400 signatures since its release in May.
Fiadh Tubridy, a spokesperson for Transgress the NGS, remarked that the protest was organised because the group has “been consistently ignored by the Department of Health, HSE and others” and so they “have to find other ways to make our voices heard.”
According to Jenny Maguire, Trinity College Dublin Student Union president, the rally was “another effort in desperation by the trans community to have the state treat them with dignity”. She remarked that “transgender people are forced to beg for the basics and be given even less”.
She commended the “unbelievable work” that Transgress is doing for the community.
The National Gender Service (NGS) aims to facilitate gender-affirming healthcare. It is composed of a multidisciplinary team of healthcare specialists. However, Transgress the NGS argues that the NGS is gatekeeping this healthcare through their policy of advising GPs not to provide gender-affirming healthcare outside of the NGS’s remit. Transgress the NGS plan to alert GPs to the fact that they are legally allowed to prescribe hormone replacement therapy, to provide blood tests, and to monitor blood hormone levels to self-medicating patients.
Transgress the NGS is seeking the attention of Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly so that he can intervene by directing the NGS to stop inhibiting GPs providing gender-affirming care and by launching a campaign to inform GPs of their rights.
