Just a few years ago it looked like our country was moving in the right direction. There was a broad consensus for trans rights, things were moving forward. Yet now, not only have trans rights not progressed, they have actually regressed. Even for the few thousand of us that have gone through the burdensome procedure of getting a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), we still almost no legal recognition of our true gender.
In the aftermath of the UK Supreme Court ruling, trans people are experiencing a roll back of our rights at a pace not seen since Section 28. With many companies even instituting ‘bathroom bans’ for trans people – akin to far-right Republican states in America. It’s an incredibly scary time to be trans in the UK right now, and for many of us it seems like it will only get worse. Just recently we saw Conservative politicians proposing amendments to forcibly change all trans people’s identity documents to reflect their birth sex instead of the gender they live as now. This barely scratches the surface of the tide against us. It’s incredibly difficult to be positive about it all.
And to be honest, we’re scared. I’m scared.
As a community, we have no faith in the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to uphold our rights, with their leadership repeatedly speaking out about trans exclusionary policies. Many of us hoped things would get better after Kishwer Falkner leaves office, but the Labour Government seems determined to install someone who looks like they could be equally opposed to our rights, freedoms and equalities. For many of us, we feel little hope of the situation getting that much better as Labour continues to chase the far right at the expense of vulnerable groups in society. I speak to a lot of trans people, who really cannot see much hope right now, and I don’t have much I can tell them.
Trans people are struggling to feel pride right now. We don’t often have a voice in this debate. The debate where we are all branded as nothing more than fetishists and predators, often in a room without a single trans person in it. It’s no surprise many of us feel little pride right now. Trans people are treated more like a concept: “the scary trans is coming for you and your children!”.
But it’s not, and we are not just a concept.
We’re human beings. Human beings with emotions, feelings, wants, lives. We have feelings too, and we deserve to have our voices heard in debates about our human rights. But we also need our cisgender allies to speak up for us and help give us a voice. We need every ally, every party, every group to stand up and be unequivocal in their support for trans people’s rights, freedoms and equalities. We really can’t do this alone.
I envision a world one day where trans people’s very existence isn’t debated and we are free to be who we are. A world where we aren’t waiting two decades for healthcare, a world where we aren’t in fear every time we need to use the loo or a world where we aren’t ashamed of who we are.
But most of all, a world where we can feel pride in who we are every day of the year.
* Rebecca Jones is an Islington Liberal Democrat campaigner & local executive member, Lib Dem Women executive member and the Co-Young Liberals Accessibility, Diversity and Inclusion Officer.
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11 Comments
I wish this message was represented at all, ever, in the mainstream media. Instead we just get literally thousands of articles each year aimed at portraying a small number of people who want to live our lives in peace as … prey who deserve to be hunted as such.
Every UK trans person I know who has the means is working on leaving the UK.
First, you have so much to be proud of – you’ve accomplished so much and, with your drive and talent, I know you’ll go on to achieve so much more. It’s been my great good fortune to campaign with you, see you putting liberalism into action. You’re great. You deserve a spot if pride.
And second, sometimes we need to take pride, even when we’re not feeling it, fly that flag because others don’t have our strength and need our support, and because the forces ranged against us, the rich and powerful, the deeply transphobic and the cynical populists, and the deluded white knights who claim it’s for our own good, need to be reminded, once again, that we’re here, we’re queer and we’re not going away.
Go forward in love. And take pride. You’re brilliant.
If it’s any solace, many of us still support the trans community .. i’m VERY disappointed with starmer labour 🙁
I’ve been wondering why the anti trans campaigners are so exercised by who uses which toilet. I’ve recently been on holiday in the UK, driving and visiting various tourist attractions. Roadside loos are usually no more than a couple of cubicles, quite often have men cleaning or topping up the loo rolls. Generally public toilets are similar, with more cubicles. So you go in , into the cubicle, do your thing, come out, wash hands & go. almost zero interaction with anyone else. What do they think the bad trans person of their imaginary is going to do? Very strange.
I can see one might be concerned in an open changing room, but even then, as long as the equipment matches, no-one is very interested in what anyone else is doing.
The toilet thing, especially the quick reaction from EHRC, just looks like cruelty for the sake of it. No-one benefits.
Can our party please start opposing what labour and the ECHR are doing instead of just meekly saying that we accept the supreme courts judgement as Ed Davey has repeatedly done.
We can’t let this go on much longer, even if we have to demand new leadership to do it.
Well said Rebecca, I fully agree with you.
In addition – and in my opinion, of course – I do believe that this is all coming from the extreme right as a culture war tactic to distract everyone from the increasingly apparent failure of neoliberalism and late stage capitalism. We trans people, along with immigrants, are just the easiest targets for distraction. As a party, I think we need more robust economic policy aimed explicitly at reducing inequality, as well as more robust defence of trans people and any other marginalised groups.
The media coverage is very poor. I’m finding people don’t understand the debate. I am surprised that so many people I know support the current position because ‘they don’t want men in the ladies loo’ Completely missing the point. Good luck to you. These times will pass. It’s like homophobia in the 70s. Beyond depressing
Well said, Rebecca. And those of us who are not trans or non-binary have to stand with you.
” It’s like homophobia in the 70s ”
I’m not sure it is.
Actually it was worse in the 80s when the Thatcher govt attempted to push back on the rights that had been previously hard won by the gay and lesbian community. It was only the Tory right and groups even further to the right who openly supported Thatcher. This is not to say there wasn’t some working class, and even some liberal middle class, conservatism. This came to the fore, publicly, in the Bermondsey by-election of 1983.
However, the situation now is far less clear cut. It’s not just about letting people get on with their lives in ways that they see fit. It is mainly about what women, all women, themselves want. It’s about who should be allowed into the club, so to speak. I’ve often been told that as a man I should keep right out of it. They certainly wouldn’t want me in the club, as I am, which is fair enough!
Just what I would need to do to qualify, should I want to apply, has to be up to them.
Labour’s actions towards trans women prove, if there was any doubt, that they are not a progressive party, and that anyone who thinks that they are is deluding themselves. A civilised society cannot allow any individual or group to become marginalised or ‘othered’, much less weaponised for political ends. I stand with trans women and trans men.
If being Trans is becoming more like the gender with which you identify when it is different from that given to you at birth then this fits into human rights very well. It is important to remember however that what you identify with is a thought, powerful though that is. As such it is fluid and amenable to change. So it behoves everyone involved in this debate to treat everyone with respect and compassion. When this belief is strong and not transitory it seems reasonable for society to respect and welcome it within the limits that the same society sets.