This week my friend had gender reassignment surgery. I cannot imagine what it is like to live with dysphoria, let alone to go through such surgery in order to feel able to live in one's own skin. While I do not believe anyone can change their sex ("legal fictions" do not 1/

change a person's biological sex) I do believe that everyone deserves to live with dignity and to have their rights upheld, including rights to healthcare. I am not tagging her in here because -- even though she has talked publicly about her surgery -- it is not my place to 2/

do so. Having got to know many trans individuals over the past 18months I have learned a lot about the discrimination and lack of dignity and violations of rights that many of them experience, and none of that is okay or should be tolerated or supported. We can find ways to 3/

uphold everyone's rights without undermining those of any individual or group. That's the hill on which I'm willing to die. 4/4