Documentaries: Research "gires"

"gires" Gender Identity Research and education society

GIRES is a charity that collaborates with other groups to "hear, help, empower and give a voice to trans and gender non-conforming individuals, including those who are non-binary and non-gender, as well as their families".

They contribute to policy development regarding equality and human rights for people in the LGBTQ+ community **especially within health care** GIRES provide training, e-learning and information to public and private sector organisations.

AIM: "to improve substantially the environment in which gender non-conforming people live. GIRES upholds the right of all those who do not fit the typical boy/girl, man/woman tick boxes, including people who intend to change gender role completely and others whose gender identity is non-binary, to live proudly in a society that celebrates diversity."

GIRES contributes to de-psychopathologising ((Psychopathologie=the study of mental diseases and their causes)) gender non-conformity and has:

"(a) ensured that the UK’s Good Practice Guidelines for the assessment and treatment of adults with gender dysphoria adopt the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) description of this condition as “not negative or pathological” and

(b) supported the World Health Organisation’s move to take account of current scientific research and transfer the condition out of the mental and behavioural disorders section of the International Classification of Diseases."
Individual Help:

"In the UK, around 650,000 people, 1% of the population, are estimated to experience some degree of gender non-conformity. GIRES and the other support groups receive a stream of requests for help from individuals with a wide range of needs, for instance: 

a child not being allowed to use the appropriate toilet in school

a wife who has just learned that her spouse intends to change gender role

an employee intending to undergo transition at work

a patient being denied proper gender reassignment treatment."

Empowering Gender Nonconforming Young People:

In collaboration with Mermaids ((a group who raise awareness about gender issues to the general public, the campaign for the recognition of gender dysphoria **a condition where a person experiences discomfort or distress because there's a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity**))GIRES has been campaigning since 2000 for the NHS to make puberty suspending medication available to gender non-conforming young people in accordance with the international guidelines. The NHS adopted this approach partially in 2011 and then fully in 2014. 

**Hormone therapy on the NHS**

If a child has reached puberty and has gender dysphoria, they can be treated with "gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues". These are man-made hormones that suppress the hormones naturally produced by the body. Gonadotrophin-releasing hormones suppress the hormones produced by your body. They also suppress puberty and can help delay potentially distressing physical changes caused when someone who has gender dysphoria body becoming more like their biological sex rather then their sexual identity, until they're old enough for other treatment options.

Support for Educators:

Information, advice and training are provided not only by GIRES but also by other supporting charities. The GIRES toolkit, funded by the Home Office, has been a valuable resource for schools to use in combating transphobic bullying. 

"However, the Department for Education (DfE) has made little effort to alert schools to the increasing likelihood that they will need to support a gender nonconforming person and inform them about the wide range of resources available."

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GIRES website: LINK

Hormone thereapy: LINK

Gender Dysphoria definition: LINK

Mermaids website: LINK