Lib Dem Women and Equalities spokesperson Christine Jardine has issued a message for Trans Awareness Week which runs until Thursday. She said:
Today is the beginning of Trans Awareness Week. It’s an opportunity for us to celebrate trans people, acknowledge the challenges they face, and reflect on how we as a society can work together to improve trans people’s lives.
In decades past, the UK has led the world in advancing equality for all LGBT+ people – with the Liberal Democrats playing a particularly key role in driving that progress forward.
However, too many trans people still face discrimination and hostility simply for being who they are. Sadly, the fight for equality must go on.
The figures are stark. The number of hate crimes recorded against trans people have skyrocketed by 52% since 2020/21. Young trans people face the highest rates of homelessness among the LGBT+ community. Not to mention the shocking reality that on average, trans people are being forced to wait more than 7 years to get the specialist healthcare they deserve.
Let me be clear – Liberal Democrats will always stand up for the rights of everyone in the LGBT+ community, including trans people.
So we will keep campaigning for positive change. Whether that’s fighting for a comprehensive ban on conversion therapy, standing up against transphobia, or ensuring that every trans person can access the high-quality healthcare they deserve.
We cannot forget how important it is to deliver this. At the end of Trans Awareness Week, we will mark Trans Day of Remembrance – where we honour those who have lost their lives to anti-trans violence and discrimination. We must do everything in our power to end this loss of life and achieve true equality for the trans community.
There may still be a long way to go, but Liberal Democrats will keep fighting.
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3 Comments
I’ll be very grateful if the Party would define what it means by ‘conversion therapy’. It conjures up visions of electric shock treatment, or at the very least the administration of emetics. Surely, both of these practices are illegal in the UK. So what, in clear terms, is meant by ‘conversion therapy’?
I think you’re thinking of aversion therapy. You have a point though. Conversion therapy is not therapy and has no scientific basis so defining it legally is probably the hardest part of banning it.
Thank you for this message of support.
The last 8 years have felt particularly grim. The culture wars waged against us in the UK feel minor compared to the experiences of trans people in Orban’s Hungary, Erdoğan’s Turkey, Putin’s Russia, and now once again the USA under the new Trump administration, but the complete and absolute failure of the Tories (and now Labour) to address the UK’s crisis in Trans adult and youth healthcare has torn hope away from so many.
Urgent action is needed to save lives. In the first 48 years of my transition, I never saw anything like the rise in numbers of those (mostly under 25yr olds) taking their lives that we have seen in the last 2 years. I thank you for this message of hope