31st March every year is the Transgender Day of Visibility. Liberal Democrats have been marking the occasion at a time when the transgender community continues to face a toxic atmosphere of hostility in the media and beyond.

The resilience of this community in the face of such discrimination is quite remarkable.

This year, as the much-needed reform of the Gender Recognition Act looks likely to be shelved in England and is in jeopardy in Scotland due to splits in the SNP, there are even greater challenges ahead.

This year there is no colourful and exuberant trans pride in Scotland as there has been for the past couple of years, but there will be again once all this is over.

Liberal Democrat policy on trans rights is clear. Trans rights are human rights, trans men are men, trans women are women and non binary identities are as valid as everyone else’s.

It was great to see parliamentarians, starting with one of our acting leaders, show solidarity:

Today we celebrate trans and non-binary communities, reflect on the need for further progress & state that #TransRights are #HumanRights

I know #CoronaCrisis is dominating people's thinking but as a society we have to keep our values going so join me to celebrate #TDOV2020 pic.twitter.com/BA2cOs9QY7

— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) March 31, 2020

Christine Jardine said that we need to keep fighting against the discrimination that trans people face.

Today is Transgender Day of Visibility. Equality is at the core of who I am as a liberal, and we need to keep up the fight against discrimation those in the trans community still face. Here’s what I have to say @ScottishTrans #TransDayOfVisibility #transrightsarehumanrights pic.twitter.com/nlv2lMMT8w

— Christine Jardine 🔶 (@cajardineMP) March 31, 2020

A lovely message of solidarity from Jane Dodds, too:

Today on #TransDayOfVisibility we need to celebrate the progress made in tackling some of the injustices the transgender community face.

There is still a long way to go but the @WelshLibDems and I are clear, #TransRightsAreHumanRights and we will never compromise this belief. pic.twitter.com/yNQu1LGmqC

— Jane Dodds AS/MS 🔶🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@DoddsJane) March 31, 2020

Jamie Stone added his support:

Well said! The @ScotLibDems and I will continue to work on behalf of the transgender community!

In solidarity on #TransDayOfVisibility and every day after that because #TransRightsAreHumanRights 🙌 https://t.co/UaIDv1goEA

— Jamie Stone MP (@Jamie4North) March 31, 2020

And Layla Moran said that trans rights were human rights:

Proud to stand with the trans community on #TransDayOfVisibility. Trans rights are human rights. https://t.co/ZPGhchMY6x

— Layla Moran 🔶🕊️ (@LaylaMoran) March 31, 2020

An article on the LGBT+ Lib Dems website tells about the extra challenges facing trans people because of the Coronavirus pandemic:

Life has changed significantly in the last few weeks, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Things that used to be easy have become harder. Routine medical care has all but vanished. Our social spaces have largely become inaccessible, or replaced by online gatherings. We are stuck indoors with people we may not be used to spending so much time with. Some of us are stuck with people who are hostile or violent.

For a lot of trans people, none of this is new – but it has got worse. The appointments being cancelled include access to hormones, therapy and surgery for trans people, for those lucky enough or patient enough to get through the many-year waiting list for vastly underfunded NHS services. Even within LGBT+ social spaces, trans people often feel excluded, marginalised or fetishised rather than welcomed, creating the need for trans spaces such as Brighton Trans Pride and Manchester’s Sparkle. And many trans people are not lucky enough to be welcomed by their family, let alone safe enough to be open with them. Trans people are at high risk of domestic violence

The stresses caused by the pandemic and quarantine efforts are compounding those already felt by a community which is proud and resilient, but frequently misunderstood and discriminated against.

It’s great to see Lib Dem Women celebrate the day by publishing an excellent piece by Jasmine-Josephine Sakura Rose on the issues she faces in today’s tough environment:

I am not ashamed to be out

But I am afraid to be out

Perhaps there are trans or non-binary people in the UK who are not afraid to be out at the moment, but I haven’t spoken to anybody who can say that. Because right now being trans or non-binary and out in the UK is becoming an increasingly scary thing

I live my life surrounded by a media that is hostile to me—hostile to the very idea that trans or non-binary people can and should exist without being questioned about who we are; questioned about our validity; questioned about whether we’re a danger to “normal” people. A media that sees no problem in running increasingly hostile articles and pieces that portray trans women as dangerous predators in disguise; as trans men as “confused lesbians”; non-binary people being “fake attention seekers”

To be trans or non-binary in the UK is to face a constant barrage of people demanding that I mustn’t be allowed the simple dignity of saying who I am and having that accepted, instead demanding that who I am can and must only be what I’m told I’m allowed to be

To be trans or non-binary in the UK is to face an ever increasing number of people who seem to think that it’s perfectly acceptable for them to define my existence for me, but that my quiet insistence on pointing out that it is not for them to have any say in who I am is somehow hostile or rude.

As liberals, it’s our duty to fight against those sorts of discriminatory attitudes and ensure that trans people are able to be who they are without fear.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings