One of the few young people in the UK to receive estrogen therapy and, eventually, surgery was Stephen Whittle when he transitioned as a teen in 1975.
He claimed there was “masses” he supported in this week’s review of the NHS’s gender identification services by Hilary Cass, nearly half a century after the war for transgender rights. He added that the report had been influenced by groups and individuals with “transphobic” views, and that the “potential for positive change must be supported with resources.”
At Manchester Metropolitan University, Whittle, emeritus professor of equalities law, has become one of the most influential voices for transgender rights and provided advice to governments all over the world. He is now 68 and interprets the concerns raised in the Cass statement from the standpoint of years of personal and professional practice.
He remarked that as a child, “I had no fear that something was seriously wrong – and I had no fear what it was.” I immediately realized that I was constantly going to be in the wrong race at a certain college sports evening where there were both boys and girls competing.
After a number of attempted suicides, Whittle was finally seen by a sympathetic doctor who said, “I had no doubt that I couldn’t live as the person people thought I was meant to be.” He was offered hormone, followed four years later by procedure.
“My parents, who was quite a Victorian gentleman in his behavior, said: ‘We’ve been waiting for this since you were two’. It made feeling, according to 90 percent of the respondents. There was a lot of prejudice and discrimination, however, from neighbors or those who hardly knew me. In the street, I was sexually assaulted and physically assaulted, and I lost my job after work. None of it was easy”.
Shortly after he transitioned, Whittle met his existence lover, Sarah, with whom he has four children. She never had any doubt that I was the man she saw and knew, even though I hadn’t had surgery at that time.
In the middle of the 1980s, Whittle attended evening college and pursued a law degree. He co-founded Press for Change, which campaigned for transgender rights, and in 2005 was awarded an OBE for services to sex issues.
He said fresh trans people now faced “different problems” to those he experienced. They find it simpler to find a career and maintain it. But what’s really tough is “social media”. Online can be a cruel area”.
As a student questioning his identity, and eventually as a transgender child, he said he was very isolated, and worked hard to establish friendly networks of people who met often. Then, it was simpler to find online users who had similar experiences, but more difficult to maintain in-person call.
There was also a greater interest in sex troubles than there was 50 years ago. “You have people at a little younger years asking,’Am I transgender?’. Additionally, there are those who are “just aware that they belong in a different body.”
He claimed that the Cass record found numerous issues with gender identity service. “Understaffing, workers overwhelmed, data not properly kept, mental health services in need of substantial progress. However, I believe you can also see the transphobic prints on the record.
He claimed that some anti-trans organizations had an unfair effect on officials and the government. “Since 2010 I’ve never been included in one conversation with authorities, none of us have. However, these different people are enjoying their strength by sitting around the table. I believe that the pressure and fear of these people strongly influenced aspects of the Cass report.
A willingness to provide companies with appropriate tools and provide “a lot of talking therapy” for people would be key to much of what transpired following the Cass review. He remarked that “cho has the potential for positive change, but it needs to be supported by major funding.”
