Open letter supporting trans women
To Cllr. Rhiannon Spear (Chair of TIE Campaign),
We would like to thank you and your co-signatories for your recent open letter, published in The Herald on Sunday 3rd March, in support of the rights of trans people, and particularly trans women. We wholeheartedly support and welcome the points you made. As the largest service provider for LGBT+ adults in Scotland, we wish to ensure that LGBT Health and Wellbeing is represented on the list of signatories to the letter.
Recently, we have become increasingly concerned about the circulation of views which have created the false impression that the rights of trans people are a topic for debate. We want to make it very clear that the current rights of trans people are not in question. Trans people have significant rights that are backed by Scottish and international law. And organisations like ours are working every day to promote the proper realisation of those rights in practice.
Your letter noted where our legal and political framework enshrines trans rights, and pointed out that reportage has too often failed to make this clear. Awareness of rights and the ability to claim them in practice is fundamental to everyone’s health and wellbeing. With trans people facing health – and particularly mental health – challenges disproportionately, we would therefore like to reiterate that trans people have rights and protections to live as themselves, free from discrimination. These are specifically noted in, for example, the Equality Act 2010, the Gender Recognition Act (2004), The Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009; as well as in European Union law such as the EU Social Charter.
At LGBT Health and Wellbeing, the work we deliver through our Transgender Support Programme is built around the existence of the rights, protections and support available to trans people, who are 40% of our service users. We support our trans community to access what is available to them, and we work to build the capacity of our allies and stakeholders to do the same.
If trans rights are not the question, what is? The question that has been asked in the public sphere, and which has the potential to impact trans people’s rights, is how our legal and political framework can align itself with best practice in relation to gender recognition law. The Scottish Government made a commitment in its Fairer Scotland strategy to review and reform gender recognition law and bring it in line with international best practice. In light of this, consultation questions were asked as part of a democratic policy-making process. We have been encouraged by the responses to this consultation, which have suggested overall public support for a process of self-identification, such as is already in operation in Ireland. The consequence of this would be to remove some of the intrusiveness and bureaucracy which needlessly causes trans people who wish to receive gender recognition great distress. Based on feedback from the Scottish Government consultation, we remain optimistic that this process will improve and trans rights will be progressed in reality.
Unfortunately, the promise of legal and political progress is not always reflected in social attitudes. We regularly hear from our trans community about the devastating impact of transphobia and discrimination on their lives. 58% – a clear majority – of trans people accessing our services report a mental health condition. More broadly, the mental health status of our trans community continues to be of significant concern. 88% of this community have experienced depression and 35% have attempted suicide. Attitudes in society play no small part in this very serious situation. For this reason, we wholeheartedly support your statement that:
“outlets and commentators have an ethical responsibility to consider the impact of their reportage, analysis and commentary, particularly on the mental health of trans young people … [because] trans people continue to face unlawful discrimination and violence … [and] routine misinformation and sensationalism is contributing to a cultural climate where this is legitimised. This has to stop.”
Narratives which undermine the status of trans rights are not only spreading misinformation, but are doing so with real consequence. We would like to remind our trans community that the narratives which rely on misinformation and sensationalism are not the whole story. We urge them to keep in mind the steady progress that is also happening more quietly, and to do what they can to keep themselves well.
In saying this, we would like to remind our trans and nonbinary community of the support that is available to them at this time and always. At LGBT Health and Wellbeing, our door is open, our phone and online support are ready, and the spaces we hold daily in the community are welcoming. Our community will always be heard, affirmed and supported. We would like our trans community to know that their allies in Scotland’s diverse LGBT+ community are too many to count. And that we are proud that the support within our community is shared too by our feminist allies from across our many equalities organisations, our government and our local councils. We sincerely hope that when our trans and nonbinary community members look around at what is happening, they see all of us standing next to them and know that we are their fierce advocates.
In solidarity,
Maruska Greenwood
CEO, LGBT Health and Wellbeing
Rosie Tyler-Greig
Policy Manager, LGBT Health and Wellbeing
