United Kingdom
Transgender Gen Zer dies by suicide after wait on U.K. healthcare system list
Alice Litman’s parents said daughter could not access gender-affirming care
Alice Litman was a high school junior when she told her family she wanted to live as a woman. Barely for years later at age 20 she died by suicide. According to her parents Peter and Caroline Litman, she died partly because of the inaccessibility of gender-affirming healthcare in the U.K.
The BBC reported that an inquest is to be held into the death of Litman, who died by suicide while on a National Health Service waiting list for almost three years for gender-affirming healthcare. She had been referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service in August 2019, but was still waiting for an initial assessment when she died by suicide at the age of 20.
BBC News reported that the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where the gender-identity clinic is based, as saying it was “deeply saddened” by Litman’s death but it was “not appropriate to comment while the inquest is ongoing.”
The clinic’s website, which currently only shows data from the same month that Litman died, reveals the waiting list to be 11,407 people long.
Assistant coroner Sarah Clarke will examine issues relating to her death in the coroner’s inquest due to take place this upcoming September.
Peter and Caroline Litman hope lessons will be learned from their daughter’s death the couple told the BBC. They said in a statement: “We believe that Alice died partly because of the inaccessibility of gender-affirming healthcare in the U.K.”
“We want the inquest to examine this to ensure we can get justice for Alice, and change for all the trans people who are facing the same issues.”
“It’s not just Alice. It’s too late for her. There are lots of other young transgender people out there and they need our help.”
Last month PinkNewsUK journalist Patrick Kelleher reported LGBTQ people already face disproportionately worse healthcare outcomes in the U.K. — and that’s without an NHS in crisis.
The crisis is a dangerous threat to everybody who relies on free healthcare, reports PinkNewsUK.
For LGBTQ people specifically, it’s compounded by existing barriers — the NHS has acknowledged that outcomes are disproportionately poor for the queer community.
In the government’s 2017 National LGBT Survey, 16 percent of LGBTQ people said they had a negative experience when accessing public health services because of their sexual orientation, while 38 percent had a bad experience on the basis of their gender identity. More than half (51 percent) faced waits for mental health care, while years-long waiting lists for gender-affirming care are well-documented.
Cleo Madeleine, communications officer for trans charity Gendered Intelligence, told PinkNewsUK:
“LGBT+ people already have worse access to healthcare than the general population, with both physical and mental health outcomes falling across the board. Some of this stems from a lack of education on LGBT+ people or an excess of stigma around specific needs like sexual health and gender identity services.
“Elsewhere we find that LGBT+ people — as many as 25 percent — avoid seeking necessary care because they fear reprisal, or because they have been denied healthcare because of their identity before.”
United Kingdom
Queen Camilla meets with JK Rowling
Edinburgh meeting took place on last day of Pride month
Queen Camilla on Tuesday met with JK Rowling.
The Royal Family on X said the meeting took place at Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The post included a picture of Camilla and Rowling together.
“With a shared passion for books and a deep commitment to children reading for pleasure, The queen and author JK Rowling have met at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh,” it reads. “Her Majesty and Ms. Rowling discussed the importance of ensuring that young people have access to books and the vital part reading plays in opening doors for future generations.”
📕 With a shared passion for books and a deep commitment to children reading for pleasure, The Queen and author J.K. Rowling have met at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
Her Majesty and Ms Rowling discussed the importance of ensuring that young people have access to… pic.twitter.com/Yx1Xy6olqC
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 30, 2026
Rowling over the last decade has emerged as a vocal opponent of transgender rights. Her meeting with Camilla took place on the last day of Pride month.
United Kingdom
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign
Announcement comes after Labour Party election loses, ambassador scandal
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday announced he will step down once his party chooses his successor.
Starmer succeeded Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party in No. 10 Downing St. in 2024.
The Labour Party included a ban on so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales in its elections manifesto. King Charles III in last month’s King Speech that he delivered in the British House of Lords said a transgender-inclusive ban is among the British government’s legislative priorities.
Charles delivered his King’s Speech days after the Labour lost more than 1,000 council seats in local and regional elections. The May 7 vote took place against the backdrop of widespread criticism over Starmer’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S., despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is seen as the frontrunner to become Labour’s new leader — and the UK’s next prime minister. Burnham was sworn in as an MP in the House of Commons hours after Starmer announced his resignation.
Starmer in his resignation announcement said he expects his successor will be in place before MPs return from their summer recess on Sept. 1.
United Kingdom
UK government makes trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban a legislative priority
King Charles III on Wednesday delivered King’s Speech
King Charles III on Wednesday said a transgender-inclusive ban on so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales is among the British government’s legislative priorities.
“My government will bring forward a bill to speed up remediation for people living in homes with unsafe cladding [Remediation Bill] and a draft bill to ban abusive conversion practices [Draft Conversion Practices Bill],” said Charles in his King’s Speech that he delivered in the British House of Lords.
The government writes the King’s Speech, which outlines its legislative agenda. The British monarch delivers it at Parliament’s ceremonial opening.
“Conversion practices are abuse, and the government will deliver the manifesto commitment to bring forward a trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices,” said the government in an addendum to the speech.
Then-Prime Minister Theresa May’s government in 2018 announced it would “bring forward proposals to end the practice of conversion therapy in the U.K.”
Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government in 2022 said it would support a ban that did not include gender identity. The decision sparked outrage among British advocacy groups, and prompted them to boycott a government-sponsored LGBTQ conference that was ultimately cancelled.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party ahead of the 2024 elections included a conversion therapy ban in its manifesto. Charles delivered the King’s Speech against the backdrop of growing calls for Starmer to resign after the Labour Party lost more than 1,000 council seats in local and regional elections that took place on May 7.
Stonewall, a British advocacy group, on April 30 said the government “has failed to meet its own timeline to publish a draft bill to ban conversion practices.”
“We should not have to wait any longer,” said Stonewall CEO Simon Blake in his group’s statement. “Conversion practices are abuse. LGBTQ+ people do not need fixing or changing. They need to hear and feel that government is going to protect their safety and dignity. Not at some random date in the future. No more delays.”
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