Ex-NHS Dr now EDI Deputy Ed Director
@medicalbristol
➕activist & lead author
@GLADDUK
Med School Conversion Therapy Charter✨Queer/They/Them✨Views my own
My full acceptance speech from
@AttitudeMag
#AttitudePrideAwards
Within this is an open invitation to the remaining medical schools to sign the
@GLADDUK
charter on so-called
#conversiontherapy
(tagged below)
I also discuss why queer visibility in medicine is so important
No. Responsibility is not so easily shrugged
This is what happens if you demonise a group every fucking day in the media
When you normalise violent and degrading language
When you strip away rights in parliament
As w the attacks on migrants, words have repercussions 1/2
Today is my balloon day 🎈
Am I where I thought I would be at 36? Honestly, no
I’m single, trying to buy a home and uncertain about my career
However…I am physically fitter than ever, embraced my queerness, and taken control of my mental health
That’s enough for now
In light of all the anti-trans shit I thought I’d share a bit of gender euphoria 🏳️⚧️
I’ve been playing around with eyeshadows a bit
It’s probably easy to miss 😅 as I’m just doing small inner eye and don’t feel brave yet! But subtle shimmers are really giving me a moment
“I can’t get my head around Lucy Letby because she doesn’t look like a killer”
It’s because she looks you
Your concepts of visual innocence are just based on the her conformity to cis white (blonde) feminine ideals
Realising that, it becomes deeply uncomfortable
Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies on the neonatal unit where she worked and attempting to murder another six
The jury was undecided on the attempted murder of a further four babies
She was found not guilty of two counts of attempted murder
Just had an online coffee with someone who I work with but don’t know well, having emailed them asking “do you want to be friends”. Which sounds ridiculous, but it was really nice and I’m glad I owned that and took the risk. That’s the tweet. Pretty boring but I’m proud of myself
Trying to explain the
#KateMiddleton
deep fake to my parents who are wondering when I suddenly became a royalist, desperately reassuring them that I just want a front row seat to the monarchy burning
Well…I’m left in actual tears
Those fucking jeers and laughs
This is a sick country run by hateful bigots
As to Starmer, you can’t just be any ally when the mother of a murdered young trans woman is in the audience. You conscience shouldn’t require that level of supervision
If a healthcare worker asks me if I’m “active or passive” in sex I will refuse to understand what they mean until they’ve explained in the most graphic of detail
What drove these individuals to kill this girl?
Maybe it wasn’t that she was trans.
But what made that violence easier to commit?
That is when her trans identity increases her vulnerability. That is when the leap to physical violence becomes so much easier to justify
2/2
Folks… guess what 🔑
Still feels unreal but after years of saving and setbacks I’ve bought a flat
And it’s got a balcony on a lake (which is a little muddy from rain right now but I still love it)
I’m going to make ALL the friends with my new neighbours 🦆🐿️🦢
I was signed off work for months before due to extreme depression, suicidal intent and out of control OCD
I was working in the NHS. My employer and work was a huge part of this
I have ending gratitude to the GP who protected me, giving me time to recover
Sick notes save lives
'If you're feeling depressed...It doesn't mean that we should assume you can't work.'
PM Rishi Sunak outlines his five key welfare reforms.
'The first is that we should be more ambitious in assessing people's potential for work'
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube
Outing young people to unsafe parents is unsafe
This white Christian centric idea that parents always know best is ridiculous
Most likely abuser? Direct family
Don’t need a qualification to be close to children? Direct family
Perpetrators of conversion therapy? Direct family
Brianna’s father having to demand an apology from our PM for “degrading” and “dehumanising” remarks said in front of her mother within a week of her killers convictions should be a wake up call to this country on trans rights
(Also fuck skynews for calling this a jibe you dicks)
The father of murdered transgender teenager Brianna Ghey has demanded an apology from Rishi Sunak, saying he was "shocked" by the prime minister's comments in the Commons today.
🔗 Read more
Hi, I’d like to reintroduce myself.
For awhile now I’ve used the word queer to describe myself. I’ve realised part of the reason for that is that I’m non-binary/gender-queer.
So…Hi, my name is Jo. I’m a doctor, lecturer, and I use they/he pronouns.
✨that feels good✨
Medics I hope you are looking at this thinking about how you would care for your trans patients on wards that are different to their gender
Vulnerable, alone and scared they will be outed by their very presence on that ward
We all know side-rooms are gold dust
Heinous.
(For the record I’ve written this to try and explain as clearly as I can the reason for the following, but in case it’s not clear: I don’t believe a trans person can be murdered and it not a substantial part of the reason they were killed)
My pronouns are they/them
The name I choose to use is Jo, and I would be very grateful if people could use it
My handle remains Joseph because my publications have that name and Im unsure how to sort that out yet
It’s not hard to see that, and it hurts colleagues act like this
Charlie is within her right to make every conceivable complaint about having access to her medication, prescribed for years on the advice of a specialist, refused to her
GPs enacting gatekeeping or punitive access to long term medications need to realise how harmful this is
The TERFs are coming so this thread is muted so I don’t need to wake to a phone full of notifications from hateful people, but I’ll try to reply at some point to anyone commenting in good faith. Love to queer siblings x
In an informal chat with students recently they were shocked and appalled that as a Queer person I check special websites before travelling abroad 2 see how safe it is, if with a bf double or single bed, what happens if outed etc
Do straight people not know we have to do this?
Got wind of a likely very nasty piece of journalism coming out of the Bee Bee Cee via a freedom of information request that’s been sent to all UK med schools. I’m exhausted. Please just stop. We just want to be safe. My work is about stopping abuse. I am not a bad person.
Today I gave a talk for the
@rcpsych
on gender inclusive healthcare. Attendees were, as I understand it, health professionals. The Q&A section had over 45 transphobic questions, ~80% of questions. To keep control of my emotions as I presented I had to dig my nails into my hand.
Used as prescribed PrEP reduces HIV transmission by 99%
99%…and yet I often meet health colleagues who are unsure what it is or haven’t even heard of it
So I’m going to share with
#MedTwitter
my journey starting it for the 1st time
We begin at the sexual health clinic…🧵
As my isolation hobby I taught myself embroidery. I really enjoy the texture of it. Although it’s extremely time consuming it was quite fun to do with an audio book
Deliberately destransitioning a patient by withholding hormone therapy is conversion therapy
It is unethical, abusive and not in-line with
@gmcuk
guidance
@rcgp
your allyship running education to challenge such practice is urgently needed, esp given your recent track record
Charlie is within her right to make every conceivable complaint about having access to her medication, prescribed for years on the advice of a specialist, refused to her
GPs enacting gatekeeping or punitive access to long term medications need to realise how harmful this is
Consistently in work the people who respect my non-binary/gender queer pronouns are my students, and not my colleagues.
Simultaneously inspiring and frustrating.
This 👏🏻 isn’t 👏🏻 feminism
Defining women by reproductive potential is vile
Biological essentialism created the oppressive gender roles that subjugate women
It’s what feminism challenges!
In demonising trans people he strips the womanhood from cis-women who cannot give birth
"A woman is somebody like my mother, who gives birth or can have the capacity to give birth to children."
Kwasi Kwarteng answers the question so many politicians struggle with; what is a woman?
@KwasiKwarteng
|
@IsabelOakeshott
|
@TiceRichard
|
@piersmorgan
A new low bar…
I’ve been approached to comment on this in the press and refused
I will say that LGBT+/Queer visibility saves lives, and associating that with child murder is a barbaric extension of the grooming narrative peddled by fascists
@RainbowNHSBadge
have my support
Calling me a groomer doesn’t change the facts that the ONLY time you care about young people’s welfare is controlling their right to self expression
Not poverty
Not abuse
Not homelessness
Not food insecurity
Not migrant children
Not the actual statistics on sexual assault
Outing young people to unsafe parents is unsafe
This white Christian centric idea that parents always know best is ridiculous
Most likely abuser? Direct family
Don’t need a qualification to be close to children? Direct family
Perpetrators of conversion therapy? Direct family
I’m almost too exhausted to RT this. This rise in attacks and violence has been perfectly predictable
It is built on a platform of anti-trans and groomer rhetoric
But more than that, it’s also built on the silence of those who see it and remain “neutral”
There is no neutral
BREAKING: Police are investigating after two men were stabbed in what is being treated as a homophobic attack in southwest London.
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
Some days I feel like I need to hide my queerness to be seen as professional, academic, or simply not dangerous
Then I say fuck it, and go to an award ceremony recognising my excellence in teaching with nails painted with Barbie’s soul
Say what you want. I’m not stopping.
I am very proud to announce tomorrow morning every medical school will be receiving a copy of the “UK Medical Schools Charter on So-Called LGBTQ+ ‘Conversion Therapy’”.
Authored by myself,
@medicallum
and
@Brigit_McWade
on behalf of
@GLADDUK
and
@LancasterMedSch
more info: 1/6
I often speak on how we shouldn’t just avoid aggression, we must actively affirm people
My 92 year nan knows I’m gender queer. Recently she sat me down to choose a piece of her jewellery to keep & wear. Nothing was too feminine, just said I looked nice & hugged me
Affirmation.
I can already hear people saying “don’t make this about race”…but if you don’t acknowledge that institutional white supremacy allows such behaviour to go unchallenged by “non-white” (global majority) colleagues then you will permit this to happen again
EXCLUSIVE: The doctor who helped catch Britain’s worst baby killer.
Dr Ravi Jayaram spent two years pleading with hospital managers to investigate Lucy Letby.
Instead, they made him apologise and attend mediation with her.
I have a comment David
10,000-15,000 gay men were put in concentration camps by the Nazi’s
On May 6th 1933 the Nazi’s raided and burnt the 20,000 books of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute of Sexology)
They tried to eradicate us David. How dare you.
Why did you turn off replies?
Because this isn’t a fucking debate. It’s fact that GPs acting in this way cause harm and need to consider why they feel this is appropriate
Recently used an oral HIV test! 🧪
Dispensed via vending machine at
@wshed
this oral “point of care test” gives results in 20mins
In the right circumstances a really easy screening tool!
I was so impressed with this. The ease of access, use and rapid results were great
But..
Gender neutral language has always been here and always will be
Gender neutral people have always been here and always will be
Trans people have always a been here and always will be
You can’t just eradicate us because your party has nothing else left to say
@Conservatives
know what a woman is.
I know the vast majority of hardworking NHS staff and patients do too.
That is why I ordered a reversal of unacceptable changes to the NHS website that erased references to women for conditions such as cervical cancer.
#CPC2023
NEW: Conservatives are safeguarding scientific research from the denial of biology and the steady creep of political correctness.
@michelledonelan
announces plans to depoliticise science at
#CPC23
Trying to explain the
#KateMiddleton
deep fake to my parents who are wondering when I suddenly became a royalist, desperately reassuring them that I just want a front row seat to the monarchy burning
@PaperWhispers
I fully agree. You can’t say the murder of have someone targeted by systemic social violence isn’t also a hate crime. Marginalised folk are marginalised by hate. A mum of one of her friends is already sharing how there has been evidence of attacks for awhile. Just sickens me.
I’m delighted to say that today I was informed I won my appeal and will progress to Senior Lecturer. Very grateful to the community on here who reached out and supported me.
Challenging this as an openly queer academic was hard, but I knew my worth and I’m glad I pushed back
Come out - it’s good for your skin/hair/happiness
#NationalComingOutDay
Whilst I was out as gay in the photo on the left I was in a controlling relationship (2015), and it wasn’t until 2 years ago I came out as gender queer
The GLOW up
Taken me a long time to embrace this scar as part of my body
I thought about getting tattoos, but it feels like hiding it
Scars can be such visible reminders of pain and disability, so I’m choosing to redefine it
I’ve just finished a 2k swim, this scar is symbol of strength
And in a true non-binary gender queer moment today’s euphoria came from having big old arms at the gym 💪🏻💅🏻
Now i’m painting my nails. Get you a they/them that can do both
In light of all the anti-trans shit I thought I’d share a bit of gender euphoria 🏳️⚧️
I’ve been playing around with eyeshadows a bit
It’s probably easy to miss 😅 as I’m just doing small inner eye and don’t feel brave yet! But subtle shimmers are really giving me a moment
“His sexual proclivities were to be his undoing.“
I cannot stress how utterly appalling it is to say this about a man beaten to death for his perceived sexuality.
This wasn’t his fault. He was murdered because this society cultures and empowers hate towards LGBTQ+ people.
Context: I have not always got this right. This specific request was to speak on decolonisation of dermatology teaching, which Ive previously advocated for. I would very happily speak on decolonising medicine as a broad theme, but skin of colour inclusion is integral to derm work
Doing my nails is important prep for teaching.
That’s not a joke. There is visible discomfort from attendees when they see the Dr wearing a traditionally masculine shirt has nails and pronouns that conflict with their assumptions.
Welcome to class. Hold onto that discomfort.
@TharushaGunawa4
We already have that language in our community 🙂
top (active)
bottom (passive)
vers (meaning both)
side (meaning you don’t tend to have anal sex)
I always answer with those terms. I don’t understand why people act like it’s unprofessional to use language we created
Don’t always love being single, but enjoying taking myself out for a romantic dinner cruise on the Seine. Doing my best to ignore how baffled the staff are 😅
This is horrifying. I’ve worked with asylum seekers in the UK who know if they return home they will be killed for their sexuality. Literally know. Have been told they will be killed by friends, family or the government. I cannot believe the state of this country.
66 countries criminalise sex between two men or two women. 32 of these are in the Commonwealth. 12 states can and do kill us for being LGBTQ+. If anything our communities are *underrepresented in refugee flows. This is disgusting anti refugee homophobic muck raking.
Last year my sister crocheted me a scarf for Christmas and it is ridiculously long, approximately 14ft.
She isn’t sure why it’s that long, she just kept going, but I love it even more for that. It’s a bit weird, and full of love. Which is my favourite kind of gift.
Feeling a little tearful this evening, & I think in a good way. The charter work has been..a lot. Including death threats & job uncertainty. But I’m so proud of it. I’m so proud of the award from the NHS England. And I’m so grateful to the community on here that support it and me
There are roughly 48,000 trans women in the UK
In 2022 540,000 people (overwhelming cis women) were waiting for gynae
The average wait was 4.8 weeks in 2012 to 15.5 weeks in 2022 (an increase of 225%), and is worse now
That is what they are distracting you from with this BS
Medics I hope you are looking at this thinking about how you would care for your trans patients on wards that are different to their gender
Vulnerable, alone and scared they will be outed by their very presence on that ward
We all know side-rooms are gold dust
Heinous.
The questions came immediately, without warning, and then consistently in response to the slides. They were not evidence based and conflated issues to undermine the points
I’m feeling sad and angry.
@rcpsych
staff were really supportive, but I’m so disappointed in my profession
A few weeks ago my cat Thor passed away
I just had a nap and swore when I woke up I could feel his face pushing against mine with one of his little kisses 🥺
I miss my boy
There are many excellent dermatologists who belong to racialised communities who are fighting for this. Decolonisation as a broader theme, that relates to the pillars of coloniality that uphold multiple forms of supremacy in higher education and medicine, is a different topic
Not that I need to say his but this was not “self harm”, and if it was that wouldn’t make me a bad person. I saw a flurry of cruel and unexpected Qs. In my anxiety I tried to keep my presentation going, and unconsciously squeezed my left hand with my right to keep steady. Grow up
Wow this is disgusting
International (I see you using “foreign” you fascist) students pay SO MUCH to study in the UK
Supporting a family at home and studying is emotional and physically exhausting
Deliver for British people? FUND the NHS, bring DOWN bills, BUILD infrastructure
From today, the majority of foreign university students cannot bring family members to the UK.
In 2024, we’re already delivering for the British people.
I am so pleased with how the
#AttitudePrideAwards
photos came out 🥰
It’s taken me till 36, but confidence grows
Public speaking? No problem
But as someone with a lot of body dysmorphia (and some gender dysphoria) photos can be intense
Really proud I stuck it out
🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
#THEMARVELS
is easily the best recent Marvel project
Push through marvel fatigue its worth it
The Khan family are the absolute 💖 of the movie
@ZenobiaShroff
steals it and is the fictional mum I most want to hug
So excited for white, Black and Brown girls to have their heroes
My personal suspicion is that a anti-trans group somehow infiltrated the invite and attendance data may demonstrate this. I do hope this was the case and that it wasn’t colleagues, but neither outcome would be surprising
This letter is one of my best F1 memories
I did oncology as an F1 and on weekend ward cover a patient said to me “I can’t take this anymore, it’s too much please let me just go home”
I convinced her to stay, to let me manage her pain before final decisions were made
1/3
While we’re at it, not a big fan of the phrase “saving lives”. I don’t save many (any?) lives. I do my best to comfort, to explain, to empower and advocate for my patients. It’s decent, honest, ordinary work and I deserve to be paid as much for it as I would’ve been 10 years ago.
In case you are unaware this dangerous anti-trans campaigner is back after a 2 yr ban
You may follow because of his TV shows, but for the last few years he’s spent every waking hour targeting trans and queer people. He’s also personally targeted me
I suggest you unfollow/block
I should also state the follow up conversation included suggestions of who might be appropriate that I have worked with or knew of, and that would have been a useful piece of allyship for me to do earlier on
Just imagine how this would be treated if it was a queer couple and/or a non-white couple
These groups can barely exist without being being hypersexualised, assumed to be unsafe parents, or worse accused of being groomers. And yet…
am i the only one who doesn’t find this funny in the slightest…? if you have a child in the house why would you SCREAM during intercourse with your partner? children don’t know what you’re doing, and even if they did it’s incredibly disrespectful and traumatising for them?
Its so easy to become isolated when you live alone
That sounds obvious but if it wasn’t for work meetings and the occasional voice note I barely say 50 social words out loud per day
90% of my free time is just spent…alone. Changing that feels quite hard but I think I need to
I fully support the
#DoctorsStrike
People often ask me why I left medicine
The truth is simple. I would be dead.
Working conditions contributed to my extreme suicidal thoughts
Those conditions have only got worse
The *least* doctors deserve is to be paid with inflation
So tired of hearing Occupational Health physicians using HIV as their “go to example” of a condition that excludes people from healthcare careers and studies
This is factually and fundamentally incorrect
It’s a dangerous narrative which promotes outdated bigotry
Awww the replies to this are so freaking cute 😍
Such lovely tips and recommendations. Thank you 🥰
Overwhelmingly more positivity than the TERFs can take away 🏳️⚧️
In light of all the anti-trans shit I thought I’d share a bit of gender euphoria 🏳️⚧️
I’ve been playing around with eyeshadows a bit
It’s probably easy to miss 😅 as I’m just doing small inner eye and don’t feel brave yet! But subtle shimmers are really giving me a moment
This Valentine’s Day I am single again, but for first time I don’t care.
If you are too please please remember it’s utterly meaningless and made up.
Eventually you will find someone(s) and I hope they celebrate you every day of the year.
In the meantime enjoy my silly dog