Transgress The NGS and Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin organised a protest outside the Department of Health during Transgender Day of Remembrance, calling for the removal of barriers to trans healthcare in Ireland.
The march assembled at 1:00 pm on Monday, November 20, at Merrion Square Park, where protestors showed up with trans flags and noise makers. Some protestors brought their own hormone replacement therapy to show the Department of Health that many trans people are forced to find ways to access hormone therapy and take HRT outside the confines of Ireland’s National Gender Service system.
The demonstrators marched together to the Department of Health to ask the NGS to drop its policy of discouraging GPs from directly prescribing hormone therapy and explicitly demand safe access to blood tests and prescriptions through GPs.
Protesters gathered outside and led chants saying, “Our bodies, our lives, our right to decide” and, “NGS is a mess what we want is safe access.”
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Transgress the NGS is a campaign advocating for self-determined trans healthcare in Ireland through direct collective action. The campaign advocates for a future where all trans people have the freedom and resources to access gender-affirming care.
For the past six months, the campaign has sent hundreds of emails and phone calls demanding self-determined trans healthcare, including blood tests and safe prescriptions from their GPs, but the Department of Health failed to address these messages.
Transgress the NGS said, “We will not rest until we self-determined trans healthcare,” and Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin added, “Our community is resilient and resourceful. But the state is enforcing policies that put us at greater risk of harm. We say no more!”
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Transgress the NGS is supported by a coalition of grassroots trans community groups including Trans Harm Reduction, the Small Trans Library, Trans Healthcare Action and Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin.
Through their collective power, activists aimed to make their voices heard at the Department of Health protest on Trans Day of Remembrance.
Trans Day of Remembrance was established in 1999 to commemorate all the lives lost to transphobic violence. The day is an opportunity for the trans community and trans allies to remember and honour the lives of trans and gender-diverse people who were victims of such violence.
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