https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/former-transgender-man-suing-gender-22800014

https://archive.is/cOnHM

Former transgender man suing gender clinic for letting her transition at 16

Keira Bell had just five appointments with the Tavistock Clinic and started taking male hormones when she was 16, before having a double mastectomy when she was 20

A woman who once identified as a transgender man is suing the gender identity clinic that allowed her to begin her medical transition at just 16 years old.

Keira Bell said she was referred to the Tavistock Clinic as a teenager as she felt "distressed" about her body, which made her feel gender dysphoria, which is the distress a person feels due to a mismatch between their gender identity and their sex.

She had just five appointments with them and started taking male hormones when she was 16, before having a double mastectomy at the age of 20.

But speaking on ITV's This Morning on Tuesday, Keira says she never had a psychiatric assessment to explore why she felt like she did, which she believes would have resulted in her never transitioning in the first place.

She said: "I grew up very gender non-conforming, so that along with sexuality struggles led to feelings of alienation, and I became very depressed in my teens and definitely distressed about my body, and all of that kind of manifested as gender dysphoria."

Keira claims she wans't happy when she had her appointments with the clinic and didn't feel like she was being listened to.

She changed her name by deed poll, changed her official documents and started to identify as male.

But she believes the process was too fast and lead to her making the wrong decisions.

Kiera explained: "I can see now when I reflect back it was all very rushed, and I wish that now there was some psychiatric assessment.

"At the end of the day, I feel like it should have been explored into why I had those feelings and not just accepted as what they were."

She added: "When you're on that pathway it's hard to come out of that, and after those drastic changes have happened to your body it's hard to admit you've gone down the wrong path."

Keira feels she has been "stunted" by the hormones and is now worried she'll never have children.

She said: "This is gonna affect me for the rest of my life and I have to make do with that and try and accept myself for how I am now and try and move on from that."

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