I believe there's somewhat of an internal rift between The Guardian UK and The Guardian US with the US publication being more progressive on Trans issues.

...of course people in the US still shouldn't talk to Journalists, as plenty of right-wing organisations pretend to be journalists in order to produce "gotcha" content and misinformation.

My mischievous side wants to do only one word answers, but my rational side knows they'd probably know how to twist it to fit their narrative

Q: What originally got you into DIY
A: Dave
Q: Dave?
A: Yes
Q: Who's Dave?
A: Nobody
Q: Would you please elavorate?
A: No
...
Q: So have you stopped grooming kids?
A: No... Yes! FUCK!

confused republican noises

Unfortunately it’s an ancient tradition. Transitioning is like abortion in that people will find a way if desperate enough even if that way is life threatening.

I think maybe we need to acknowledge this more.

yeah... i heard that people are using jenkem as a diy puberty blocker...

'All the "alpha male" types release enough testosterone that transmasc people can actually just condense it out of the air.' And then start explaining in great detail your testosterone condensing setup

I mean it's nuanced yeah?

Am I gonna talk to a journalist about a sensitive thing like DIY that could trigger brainwashed regressive people? Fuck no.

Am I gonna blast on all channels that we are in a climate crisis and inequality crisis and housing crisis and? Yes, yes I think I will.

And that's my decision for me. Some people are understandably never comfortable talking. Let alone to journalists lol!

Journalists are terrorists

So why do they insist in making the world harder to live in for the people they don’t understand? 😞

It is quite simple. It is part of a culture war that the right wages using resources provided by the rich. The one and only purpose is to take attention away from the extreme inequalities that exist in our capitalist societies. What they fear most is class war, so they try everything to generate other conflicts for the populace to engage in. It is pretty much the same with other topics, like abortion. Raising these conflicts costs them absolutely nothing, and even if they are part of a group that is affected, the rules do not apply to them anyway, only to us normos.

What frightens me is that, understanding this, some on the left (or those that claim to be left) think that the focus should be solely on class war, to the point of completely ignoring human rights problems. In Germany, that'd be Sarah Wagenknecht and her stupid new party, who thinks people fighting for Trans rights are "lifestyle leftists". Needless to say, I could not disagree more.

This refers to DIY hormone replacement therapy. Purchasing hormones directly from suppliers when health care systems are not able or willing to provide them.

I'm not entirely up to speed on the situation, but the UK recently reduced access to HRT. People are trying to make their own by sourcing hormones directly, and the guardian is supposedly contacting people to try and write a story about it.

The allegation is that the Guardian is writing an anti-trans hit piece, and you should not talk to them because they may out you or use your words to make trans people look bad.

May I suggest Abagail Thorn's video "I Emailed my Doctor 133 Times - A Crisis in the British Healthcare System" : https://youtu.be/v1eWIshUzr8?si=MLG5nLhD2GrXS07v

She mentions trans DIY and moreso outlines the systemic issues of oppression which have lead many to take their own healthcare into their own hands due to failures and bottlenecking of trans care.

There are perfectly good reasons to be concerned about people medicating themselves with off label medication, or medication that have been sourced independently of trained healthcare providers.

However, just like when any demographic begins self medicating it is due to a failure in the public health sector. As a pediatric healthcare provider it's infuriating to see politicians once again attempt to make healthcare their business.

They have no idea how providers assess their patients health, so something like total outcome assessments don't mean anything to them. When providers are prescribing hormone therapy to their patients , they are weighting some minimal potential side effects against very permanent things like suicide.

The big concern when politicians ban certain types of healthcare , is there's always a shady character willing to take advantage of the people seeking that care illicitly. Of course there will be people providing these medications who truly want to help people, but they are usually eventually going to be a minority.

Less safe than prescribed, far more safe than none. Most who do it will have no issue unfortunately even idiots can turn out to be trans.

They've posted articles against banning transgender conversion therapy, their chief lead writer is an outspoken TERF, they've posted articles for years now calling trans women threats to cisgender lesbians, and many more examples than that.

The article you linked does indeed seem to be a relatively trans supportive article. The guardian is internally divided on issues of transgender rights and acceptance, and occasionally trans positive articles are published there. The organization is not trustworthy, however, and has been actively hostile to trans rights, unfortunately.

us guardian tends to be slightly better but not by much. uk guardian is full blown fascist.

do it yourself

Nice try, Guardian journo! 🤣

(DIY is Do-It-Yourself. HRT is Hormone Replacement Therapy. DIY HRT is doing HRT on your own, without professional assistance, in situations where HRT may be otherwise difficult or illegal to obtain because of age, family, or local politics)