The recent enaction of a permanent ban on puberty blockers for transgender children by the Stormont government in the north of this country is emblematic of a dark trend of transphobia in recent years. This is being led by the transgender exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) movement – who have openly collaborated with nazis[1] – to sow division among workers and maintain the capitalist base structure. In this article I will give a brief overview of how gender affirming care works in Ireland and Britain’s two-tiered healthcare systems, the deeper gender determinants of class, and how Sinn Féin’s collaboration with the British Labour government weaponizes children’s health to protect capitalist interests. This decision lays bare Sinn Féin’s professional patriotism[2] and the fact that they are willing to reinforce capitalist structures as long as they can paint post-boxes green instead of red.
A (very) brief overview of gender affirming care in the HSE and NHS
The current system of gender affirming care (GAC) in Ireland and Britain is based on a model of “pathologisation” as described by Abigail Thorn[3]. The basic premise is that trans people must be referred to a specialised clinic and be “diagnosed” as transgender by a panel of mental health professionals before being given care that cisgender people can get from their GP. The use of puberty blockers in pubescent transgender children and adolescents is long established and prevents them from going through a traumatic puberty[4]. Transgender children and adults are having care denied and delayed to them by the public sector and many are forced to go through private healthcare due to public waitlists, which can be as long as 20 years[5]. This is the kind of class inequality we will find in any failing public healthcare system. There is, however, a deeper class analysis of gender which exposes the motivation for making GAC less accessible than most other services.
A deeper class analysis of gender
The conventional Marxist analysis of the world typically defines class as a relation to the means of production which is usually categorised as the binary of the proletariat and the bourgeois. However, a deeper materialist analysis reveals that people’s relationship to the means of production is often more complex than this. A materialist feminist approach to gender would highlight that women are exploited in similar ways to men (i.e. through wage labour) as well as being uniquely exploited through uncompensated reproductive labour and emotional labour[6]. Angela Davis highlights this in her analysis of American petit bourgeois women finding a point of solidarity with slaves regarding unpaid labour[7].
These strict categorisations of gender allow capitalism to “double dip” with their exploitation. If someone is assigned the gender of woman, she may be expected to both provide wage and reproductive labour. Therefore, breaking this strict binary or demanding to be recategorised appropriately threatens the labour pool capitalism requires of its proletariat. It is little wonder, therefore, that GAC, which results in breaking with assigned gender norms, is heavily regulated, while it is readily available to those seeking to reinforce their assigned gender.
Sinn Féin’s collaboration in banning puberty blockers
On the 27th of August 2024 Sinn Féin brought a temporary ban on puberty blockers in gender affirming care[8]. This ban was made permanent in December by the same group in Stormont[9]. The August ban was brought in as an extension to a ban implemented by the Tory government in England, Scotland, and Wales. The Tory ban is informed by the Cass Report[10], a document about paediatric care of transgender children in England, which is being used by GPs to deny transgender adults their care[11]. This is a report which has been widely discredited by a number of international bodies (e.g., WPATH, EPATH, USPATH)[12].
Sinn Féin have acted against the interests of children’s health in this instance and have once again shown their keenness to side with capitalist interests whenever it is politically expedient. The decision to delay and deny GAC has and will continue to be measured in deaths[13]. While these liberals masquerading as leftists claim to support the advancement of queer liberation, they commit acts of social murder against queer communities as soon as their masters in Westminster ask them to.
This decision further demonstrates that the rights of trans people are never safe and must be defended at every turn. The protests that are to follow will need the support of cisgender and straight allies. The work of organisations like Transgress the NGS, Trans harm reduction, and PATHI will play a pivotal role in deposing the efforts to strip away the rights of queer people[14].
REFERENCES:
[1]Freedom Socialist Party [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Posie Parker in Australia: TERFs, Nazis and the fight for trans liberation. Available from: https://socialism.com/fso-article/posie-parker-in-australia-terfs-nazis-and-the-fight-for-trans-liberation/
[2]James Connolly: Labour in Irish History – Chapter 6 [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Available from: https://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1910/lih/chap06.htm
[3]My Doctor Emailed Me Back – Trans Writes [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Available from: https://transwrites.world/my-doctor-emailed-me-back/
[4]Giordano S, Holm S. (2020) Is puberty delaying treatment ‘experimental treatment’? Int J Transgender Health. 2020 Apr 11;21(2):113.
[5]Jones O. (2023) Mail Online. [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Parents hit out at 20-year waiting list for trans patients at inquest. Available from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12545921/Parents-hit-20-year-waiting-list-transgender-patients-inquest-daughter-20-killed-waiting-1-023-days-seen-controversial-Tavistock-Clinic.html
[6]E A. On Women As A Class: Materialist Feminism and Mass Struggle [Internet]. Medium. 2018 [cited 2024 Oct 30]. Available from: https://alyesque.medium.com/on-women-as-a-class-materialist-feminism-and-mass-struggle-42a228bde888
[7]Davis AY. Women, Race, & Class. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; 2011. 290 p.
[8]Dalton E. TheJournal.ie. 2024 [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Sinn Féin and Unionists criticised for extending UK ban on puberty blockers to Northern Ireland. Available from: https://www.thejournal.ie/trans-northern-ireland-6471438-Aug2024/
[9]Puberty blockers set for indefinite ban in Northern Ireland [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyxr43e2m7o
[10]Final Report – Cass Review [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Available from: https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/
[11]bea@gcn.ie. Hundreds of trans people denied hormone replacement therapy by UK GPs, report shows [Internet]. GCN. 2024 [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Available from: https://gcn.ie/trans-people-denied-hormone-replacement-therapy-uk-gps/
[12]Public Statements | WPATH [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Available from: https://wpath.org/resources/public-statements/
[13]archive.is [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2024 Dec 26]. NHS gender care delays ‘contributed’ to trans woman killing herself, …. Available from: https://archive.is/3WlHC
[14]Trans Harm Reduction [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Trans Harm Reduction. Available from: https://transharmreduction.org; Moser E. Activists write open letter to Irish Health Minister calling for action on trans healthcare [Internet]. GCN. 2024 [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Available from: https://gcn.ie/transgress-the-ngs-open-letter-health-minister-trans-healthcare/; Professional Association for Trans Health Ireland [Internet]. [cited 2024 Dec 26]. Available from: https://pathi.ie
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:
In the sphere of ideology and theory the main task of the Communist Party is to assert the primacy of materialist and dialectical thought over every manifestation of idealism.
Accordingly, we proceed from facts, test theories against practice, and maintain an open and clearsighted view of every ideological and theoretical trend.
In the recent period the questions of ‘identity’ and ‘self’ have become contested territory, both in society in general and on the left in particular.
The Communist Party approaches these questions firstly based on human solidarity and secondly with an open mind, seeking to examine the material reality which underlies every idea.
Aisling Each has written a trenchantly argued piece that commands attention and a full discussion on the basis that each assertion and counter-assertion is examined on its merits and against the reality we test in our political and social practice.
It goes without saying that debate on these questions among comrades proceeds based on absolute respect for each other’s position and personal integrity.
The responsibilities that go with membership of a revolutionary party include commitment to the party programme, the payment of dues, and to work in a party organisation under the direction of a democratically constituted leadership.
We recognise that absolute unity on every ideological and theoretical question is nether possible nor desirable in a party open to enquiry and debate. Accordingly, we approach debate on questions of gender, sex, identity, and orientation in the spirit of comradeship, in the same way that we deal with questions of religion and faith.
Communists may celebrate engineers of the soul, but we are not inquisitors in search of heresy.
