UK

Alice Litman’s parents speak of ‘torture’ of trans people left on waiting lists 

• Sep 21
• ,2023  
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• Written 
• by Chantelle Billson  PINK NEWS

Alice Litman, who had been waiting 1,023 days for her first appointment at the Tavistock and Portman Gender Identity Clinic, took her own life aged 20 in May 2022.(The Litman family)

The grieving parents of Alice Litman, a transgender woman who is thought to have taken her own life after waiting almost three years for gender-affirming healthcare, have spoken about the “torture” trans people face while left on NHS wait lists in the UK.

An inquest into the death of the 20-year-old, from Brighton, who died in May 2022 – her family believe she took her own life after enduring a more than 1,000-day wait for an initial assessment at an NHS gender clinic – was opened on Monday (18 September). 

NHS waiting times for trans healthcare have been a serious issue for the community for a long time, and have been branded “unlawful” by some.

The family have now spoken about their belief that Alice would still be alive if she had been supported by the healthcare system. 

Speaking to Channel 4 News, her distraught parents, Caroline and Peter, shared their belief that their daughter had “lost hope [in the] battle” to try to get an appointment at the Tavistock and Portman Gender Identity Clinic, in north west London.

Litman’s mother, who worked as a psychiatrist for the NHS for 12 years, added: “It’s torture to be left on the wait list, to be left hanging [on] for so long with no end in sight and no power and no control over your destiny.” 

In an interview with Sky News, the couple said their daughter’s death should be a wake-up call. “Transgender people are hung out to dry,” they claimed.

“Alice was a smart, intelligent young person and she could see that no one was taking care of her, and no one cared.”

“My daughter was failed by the NHS and I don’t want other parents to lose their daughter, and for other children to lose their sister, the way that our family has done,” she said, according to a BBC report.

At the age of 16, Alice Litman told her family she wanted to be a woman, and was referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service in 2019, but was kept on a waiting list for 1,023 days for a first appointment.

In 2019, was also referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services following a suicide bid. She was discharged the following year, the inquest was told, despite a second attempt to take her own life.

Peter Litman said of the long wait: “It’s kind of an act of aggression. If you know something’s there and you do nothing about it, it’s not a neutral act. It’s quite deliberate.”

On Wednesday (20 September), coroner Sarah Clarke said: “It seems to me that all of these services are underfunded and insufficiently resourced for the level of need that the society we live in now presents.”

At the hearing, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, and Alice Litman’s GP, WellBN, accepted there was a delay but said there was no denial of life-saving emergency treatment.

The head of the gender identity clinic told the court that the number of transgender people needing gender-affirming healthcare was an “order of magnitude” greater than they could provide.

According to The Guardian, a spokesperson for The Tavistock said: “We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of a patient who was waiting to be seen at our gender identity clinic and offer our condolences to her loved ones.”

Information uncovered from a freedom of information request last year has suggested a 35-year waiting time for trans people seeking gender-affirming care.

The coroner said she would be writing to various NHS bodies to recommend ways of preventing future deaths. Adjourning the hearing, she added that she would deliver a narrative conclusion in two weeks’ time.

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Biden to set up new gun violence office at White House

President Joe Biden signs a document in the Oval Office of the White House

Reuters, Washington
Published: 22 September ,2023: 

US President Joe Biden is establishing a new office of gun violence prevention at the White House to implement existing laws and work with local authorities to pass gun safety legislation at the state level, officials said on Thursday.

The new office will be overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris and run with the help of gun safety advocates who are joining the administration, officials told reporters on a conference call.

“I’ll continue to urge Congress to take common sense actions that the majority of Americans support like enacting universal background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden, a Democrat, said in a statement released by the White House.

“But in the absence of that sorely-needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart,” he said.

Democrats largely favor stricter gun laws as a way to reduce deaths from gun violence at schools and in cities across the country, and the issue is likely to feature prominently in Biden’s re-election campaign next year.

People attend March for Our Lives rally, one of a series of nationwide protests against gun violence, in New York City, U.S.

Republicans, with the support of the National Rifle Association, a gun rights group, largely oppose stricter laws, citing the right to bear arms established in the US Constitution’s Second Amendment.

In a rare show of bipartisanship on the issue, Republicans and Democrats passed a package of modest gun safety measures last year, known as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and Biden has taken executive action on the issue as well.

Establishing a new office of gun violence prevention has long been on the wish list of anti-violence advocacy groups that were pleased with Biden’s record pushing for reforms but wanted the White House to do more.

Putting it under Harris’ purview also gives the vice president, who has struggled to win over some Democrats in her role as Biden’s No. 2, a meaty policy area that is important and popular with their party’s base.

Students from Miguel Contreras Learning Center high school in Los Angeles demonstrate in front of City Hall after walking out of school to protest US gun violence, California, US, May 31, 2022.

Harris said in a statement that the office would work to be “engaging and encouraging Congressional leaders, state and local leaders, and advocates to come together to build upon the meaningful progress that we have made.”

White House adviser Stefanie Feldman, Biden’s staff secretary, will serve as the director of the office, and gun safety advocates Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox will join the White House as her deputies.

“(Biden) believes that now is the moment to accelerate our work ... which is why he is establishing this office,” Feldman told reporters.

She said the office would expedite implementation of the bipartisan federal gun reform law that Biden signed last year, “dig deeper” to find additional actions the administration can take, coordinate support for communities affected by gun violence, and expand partnerships with cities and states.

Gun safety groups welcomed the move.

“We are so pleased that the Biden administration has officially created an Office of Gun Violence Prevention,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady, an advocacy group.

“Just as FEMA responds to hurricanes and earthquakes, we have desperately needed a federal agency dedicated to responding to this growing public health crisis,” she said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

UK
MIRROR EXCLUSIVE:
Rishi Sunak reported over 'very clear breach' of ministerial code in climate speech

Ministers aren't allowed to use publicly-funded resources to spread political messages - like the slogan that appears both on the PM's lectern and the Tory party conference guide

Rishi Sunak used the Tories' conference slogan at the official press conference

By Mikey Smith

Whitehall Correspondent
21 SEP 2023

Rishi Sunak has been accused of breaking the ministerial code during his speech tearing up the UK’s climate policies.

There have been calls for a probe into the event, amid claims he used an official government building for political campaign purposes, in breach of the rules. Ministers are allowed to use government buildings to communicate government policy - but not party political messages.

The Mirror understands Tom Brake, Director of the campaign group Unlock Democracy, has written to Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s ethics advisor, calling for an investigation. When the Prime Minister gave his speech, widely seen as launching of the Tory election campaign, he did so from behind a podium emblazoned with the slogan “Long-Term Decisions for a Brighter Future”.

How the same slogan appears on the Tories' Conference Agenda

The same phrase was used on TV screens around the briefing room at Number 9 Downing Street - the official government building where the speech took place. But it’s also the Conservative Party is using for its annual conference next week - and it’s written in large letters across the cover of the Conference guide.

Mr Brake told the Mirror: "The Ministerial Code is clear, there can be no blurring of the lines between Government publicity and party political material and the PM's actions appear to be a very clear breach."

Alastair Campbell, who was No10's Director of Communications under Tony Blair, said: "If Sunak knowingly used a Tory Party conference slogan in a government building it is a clear breach of the ministerial code and a clear breach of the civil service code by any officials involved."

Sections 6.2 and 6.3 of the Code bans Ministers - including the Prime Minister - from using official facilities and resources for the “dissemination of material which is essentially party political.” And it says government property should not be used for “party political activities.”

Section 8 of the code refers to the Civil Service guidance on the use of government resources - which states it is not “proper” for official communications to “use political slogans.” It also states: “Government [press officers] or other resources cannot be used for image-making, or building ministers’ personal brands, which is the province of the party political machine.”

There is an exception for Number 10, allowing the PM to host political events there as it is his official residence - as long as the party covers the cost itself. But no such exemption applies to No 9, where the Government’s media centre is.

"It is noticeable that taxpayer-funded Government publicity material often bears a striking resemblance to Conservative party publicity material. Here it is a straightforward copy," Mr Brake wrote in his letter to Sir Laurie.


"The PM’s actions, in speaking from a podium emblazoned with a slogan that is so strongly associated with the Conservative Party, appears to have breached the code a number of times, including sections 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 8.1.

"I believe this particular example, and a wider pattern of behaviour, should be investigated.