Transphobia in the UK is reaching extreme levels! No! That is not me being hyperbolic. With Pink News reporting, ‘72% of transgender and non-binary people do not feel safe because of their gender identity’ in the UK. Wow! Was my reaction to reading that news. That’s nearly 3 out of 4 trans and non-binary people feeling unsafe to be themselves. This is abhorrent. Not since the 1980s have we seen this level of animosity towards the LGBTQIA plus community.
Hate Crime against the community is soaring through the roof. The UK Home Office recorded 16,823 hate crimes against trans people in the last 4 years. Pink News reporting that ‘UK Home Office in 2023, officials admitted that the sharp rise in hate crimes against trans people over the past five years has been influenced by trans people being “ heavily discussed by politicians, the media, and on social media”. This is both shocking and deeply worrying. These are innocent people being targeted with hate. Targeted for no other reason than just being themselves. What a disgrace! As a nation, we should be ashamed and utterly appalled by these horrifying statistics.
The UK government has been instrumental in enabling the harrowing escalation of hate directed at the trans community. On the 3rd of October 2023, the Guardian reported. ‘trans hospital patients in England to be banned from female – and male-only wards. Former health secretary Steve Barclay vowed to update the NHS constitution to give effect to proposals after consultation. In my opinion, this is a vile display of transphobia! Trans people are being treated as lepers and social pariahs. Outcasts, to be kept away, to be treated as freaks. Sadly, this example of transphobic abuse is just the tip of an ugly ice berg made from the frozen hearts of parliamentary bigots.
On the 4th of July 2024 Keir Starmer was elected PM of the UK. A man who announced to Sky News his disturbing comments on trans women. He told a reporter that ‘99.95 of women, of course, haven’t got a penis.’ Reducing people to their genitals is not only transphobic but also deeply misogynistic. It defines a woman by a reproductive part rather than the person as a whole. This is the sexist language you would expect to hear in the 1950s. Yet here we are at the end of 2024 with a man of such regressive opinion leading the UK Parliament.
Another example of inhumane government-led transphobia has been the UK Puberty Blocker Ban.
Prescribing Puberty Blockers to children is both safe and ethical. Yet the government earlier this year insisted that banning them from being prescribed to trans kids was a good decision. Continuously suggesting that more review needs to be done to verify their safety for the treatment of gender dysphoria. A life-threatening condition. This of course despite the fact that Puberty Blockers have been used to treat gender dysphoria since the mid-1990s. They have been used to treat precocious puberty for the same duration of time. Of course the government has no intention to block their usage for the treatment of the latter. It is so abundantly clear to even a casual observer that the ban is designed to punish trans children. This chills me to the bone! How in good conscience is this barbaric and draconian ban being deemed acceptable by politicians?
A joint statement on the decision to ban puberty blockers for trans youth in the UK, has been released by ILGA Europe. They have condemned the ban. Calling it ‘a profoundly troubling development in the ongoing struggle for the rights of trans people and access to necessary, life saving and evidence -based healthcare. These words sum up my feelings towards the ban. A ban that shows just how much the UK has embraced a trans panic. A trans panic manufactured by legacy media and various anti-trans groups.
Organisations like the LGB Alliance and For Woman Scotland have been relentless in demonising trans and non-binary people. Turning politicians like the current Health Secretary Wes Streeting against trans people. Manufactured statistics and falsehoods that tragically paint all trans people as villains and predators. When in fact it is these hate groups that are praying on vulnerable trans and non-binary people.
What is this scary rise in transphobia leading to? I feel it is leaning toward a fully fledged and government-led UK Trans Apartheid. We are following in the footsteps of countries like Hungary. In May 2020, Hungary passed a law that effectively banned legal gender recognition for transgender individuals. This hauntingly reflects talk in the UK and indeed legal challenges to rewrite the wording of the Equality Act 2010. To rewrite in a way that would effectively exclude trans people from female and male-only spaces. Forcing trans people to use spaces that match their birth sex and not their true gender identity. This is a truly disturbing prospect, to say the least. A full stripping away of trans and non-binary peoples’ human rights.
I write these words as a warning to all. The UK is regressing on trans rights. Regressing at a very alarming pace. Allies must step up! They must call out the discrimination. They must call out the prejudice and the hate!
The Trans Community is crying out for you to help them. Don’t let their cries go unheard!
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