Content warning: This article discusses gender identity conversion practices involving physical and emotional abuse of children and young people by parents. This includes some details of specific abusive acts. If you have been affected by abuse of this kind, the charity Galop maintain a conversion therapy helpline. Please note that screenshots in this article from an anti-trans organisation repeatedly misgender trans children and young people, these have been included to document the harmful behaviours discussed in the screenshots and TSN does not support any of their content.
Multiple attempts have been made by Trans Safety Network (TSN) to talk to Wes Streeting and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) regarding serious safeguarding concerns about a group influencing trans healthcare policy. Leaks seen by TSN from the private Discord forum of the pro-conversion therapy organisation Bayswater Support Group document cases of child abuse, including one parent speculating about carrying out “sabotage” of a teenager’s eye makeup with “extra hot chili sauce.” At time of writing we have received no reply from either Streeting or the DHSC. Given the seriousness of the abuse described TSN urge Streeting and the DHSC to address this.
Bayswater Support Group have previously been the subject of an expose by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, outlining abusive practices including destruction of possessions and denying a trans child who had been sexually assaulted access to crisis support services. As noted in previous TSN coverage Bayswater Support Group promote the “DIY conversion therapy book” Desist, Detrans and Detox on their website.
Despite evidence of harmful practices by the group, Bayswater Support Group have been allowed to influence trans healthcare policy. Bayswater Support Group have met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has expressed sympathy for the group, on multiple occasions both as Shadow Health Secretary and as a government minister. Bayswater Support Group were one of eight anti-trans organisations invited to take part in a targeted government consultation on the puberty blocker ban and have been cited in training delivered to NHS clinicians and quoted in BBC reporting on trans healthcare issues.
Discord forum leaks
In one leak from the forum seen by Trans Safety Network, several Bayswater parents were discussing destroying personal items belonging to their children that might be used to express trans identity, including clothes, underwear and pride flags. In the course of this conversation, one parent of a teenage trans girl suggested that they were considering putting “extra hot chili sauce” in her eye makeup. TSN have been unable to learn if the parent followed through on this plan, but note that we also could not see any evidence that any member or moderator of the forum challenged this or pointed out the severe pain and discomfort that could result.
“Any ideas how to sabotage make up would be gratefully received (maybe injecting some indelible blue dye into the foundation, or some extra hot chili sauce in the lipstick and mascara????).” - Bayswater Support Group Discord user, emphasis added by Trans Safety Network
The use of pain and discomfort to punish LGBTQ+ expression, sometimes called “aversion therapy,” has a long and well documented history as part of conversion practices, with recent BBC reporting documenting similar practices involving inducing vomiting carried out by religious organisations. Physical abuse as part of conversion practices appears to be commonplace, with around 2 in 5 (38%) trans and non-binary people responding to a recent survey by Stonewall reporting experiencing physical assault aimed at changing their gender identity or sexual orientation.
In another Discord conversation about destroying their children’s possessions at a later date, another Bayswater parent appeared to discuss encouraging or permitting their cis child to be “brutal” with their trans child in order to discourage feminine gender expression, a user of the Discord praised the cis child’s “straight-talking,” with a third parent expressing distaste for the “fawning girl friends” of transfeminine children.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting was sent the evidence documented in this article by a Labour MP on behalf of a TSN volunteer and constituent of the MP, outlining this as a safeguarding concern. The letter, dated 18th of March 2025, includes screenshots from the Bayswater Discord and outlines concerns that “by continuing to treat [Bayswater Support Group] as a legitimate stakeholder in matters of trans healthcare, you [Streeting] are allowing a group posing a serious safeguarding risk to influence Labour government policy.” Streeting’s relationship with Bayswater Support Group was recently raised by protesters from Trans Kids Deserve Better when confronting the Health Secretary at a public event.
Streeting has been quick to respond to other trans related stories, acting on the recommendations of the “biased, inadequate and potentially harmful” Sullivan report quickly, claiming safegurding concerns. At time of writing, Streeting has not responded to the concerns raised regarding Bayswater Support Group, despite both the letter from an MP and multiple attempts by our volunteer to contact him by email in the weeks since. Wes Streeting has been contacted for comment via the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and via social media direct message. Trans Safety Network call on Streeting and the DHSC to answer our questions:
- Does the Health Secretary feel that it is reasonable or appropriate for a parent to punish a child for gender nonconformity by putting a chemical irritant that could cause pain and discomfort in that child's eye makeup?
- Given that this is not the first time that concerns have been raised regarding Bayswater Support Group, how do the Health Secretary and the DHSC justify continuing to treat them as a legitimate stakeholder in matters of trans health?
- Recently some young trans protesters challenged the Health Secretary on, among other issues, his continuing engagement with Bayswater Support Group. Does the Health Secretary regret not responding to the concerns raised by these young people directly?