AN ex-patient of the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service has said she believes lobby groups are pushing a trial which would put children in “harm’s way”.

Speaking on GB News Keira Bell said: “I came from a troubled background, and I was a tomboy and didn’t have any sort of support, no familial support. So I’d say growing up, and especially reaching adolescence and reaching puberty, I had a strong discomfort with that process and what was happening to my body and the kind of social expectations of growing into a young woman.

“So that led to me feeling like something was wrong with me and that I needed to correct it, which led to me believing that I needed to become a boy and that is how I would be happy in life, before I realised it was pure fantasy.

“I took puberty blockers from the age of 16, and then I proceeded on to testosterone at age 17. Then I had a double mastectomy procedure when I was 20 years old before, stopping the process, stopping the testosterone, and trying to move forward naturally.

“There was no resistance. When I showed up to the Tavistock, they didn’t investigate my file at all. If they had done so, they would have found some troubling information, really, on my past and on my background.

“It was very much patient-led. I went in there saying that I wanted to become a boy, and they basically said, ‘Okay, well, let’s move you forward and get you on this process’.

“I come from that cohort that’s kind of forgotten about in this area where, coming from a troubled background, being in care. And this particular cohort within the whole trans world is kind of forgotten about.

“So people like myself, we were jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire really. You come from such a troubled background and you have hope that finally you’re going to be helped. And in fact, it’s quite the opposite.

“I don’t understand it. I mean, the Tavistock [clinic] was closed down for a reason, and for whatever reason, it’s the culture of the belief that something like a trans child exists, instead of just that these are troubled children that need to be helped, like I was.

“So I think ultimately, it’s down to the lobby groups and the pro-trans activist groups that have been lobbying for this. Essentially, adults that don’t have any experience taking puberty blockers, but want to further their ideological agenda and children are in harm’s way.

“Children are just in the crossfire. Whether it’s that they’re motivated by money or some sort of moral superiority, I’m not really sure. I think there are multiple factors as to why they’re pushing this so hard. But again, children should be the first priority.

“I’m okay. I walk with God, so that’s the one thing keeping me on the straight and narrow and without that, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. So I’m taking things one step at a time, and I know that I can only move forward.

“I would say it’s hard [for parents] but there’s always hope, and there is another option. It doesn’t have to be the medical route. You don’t have to damage your body. There’s another way.

“And it’s important to live with what you are given by nature. This is such an anti-nature thing to do and it bites back hard if you go with that flow.

“So it’s important to just remember that you can live naturally and good things are on the other side.”