Survival is the Goal
Trans people have to survive and we need your help
Survive.
That is now the goal of the trans community.
Stay together. Work together. Survive.
Following the UK Supreme Courts ruling on the definition of a ‘women’ the trans community has become inundated with hatred both online and in-person. In fact even here on Substack, people have decided to use my comment section as a chance to express their transphobic views on my right to exist.
Before this ruling trans people were already fearful of their personal safety. Many trans woman, including myself, avoided going to the bathroom for hours for fear of being accosted. We kept our heads down while walking down the street to avoid the stares or disgusted looks. We sat in our rooms for hours crying about what could or what has already happened.
The reality is that over recent years abuse towards the trans community has risen significantly. The BBC revealed in 2023 that trans targeted hate crimes rose by 11% in a twelve month period in England and Wales. This is on the back of a Stonewall report stating that 2 in 5 trans people have experienced a hate crime with this number rising with trans woman of colour. Gallop also released figures that 43% of trans and non-binary people have experienced abuse from family members.
On a personal level, I have seen a rapid growth in verbal abuse from members of the public both at work and on the street. Yelling, intimidation, slurs.
I believe that the confidence given to strangers to accost trans people by-and-large trickles down from the upper echelons of our society; government, media, pulpit.
It is over the past few years that we have witnessed a shift from an almost universal liberal attitude towards LGBTQ+ people to a hateful and almost vengeful attitude. It was Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron in 2016 that pledged to ensure the UK was the, ‘‘best place in Europe if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans.’’
In the less than ten years since these comments, Prime Ministers from both Conservative and Labour have followed the same script; deny a trans persons identity, use policy to remove them from spaces, call for compassion while constantly using dog whistles and refuse to meet trans people or activists.
It is actions like that of Secretary of State for Health; Wes Streeting, banning puberty blockers without consultation or banning trans woman from same-sex wards, that I believe gives fuel to those who are looking for a group to demonise and abuse.
The Wednesday ruling by the Supreme Court is just another log onto the fire of transphobic abuse. The difference is that this time is not rhetoric or policy. It is legal precedent that opens the door to banning trans woman from spaces, indirectly allowing discrimination and giving the go ahead for trans people to lose legal protections. Government agencies have already moved to freeze trans positive policies in recent days.
The media has not been immune from this shift. In fact, they have been an active participant. Right wing tabloids use dog whistles and ‘explosive’ taglines to describe the trans community, corporations like the BBC hide behind the guise of ‘impartiality’ when not allowing a trans person on their network without a ‘gender-critic’, and social media allows transphobic rhetoric to flourish.
Behind the pulpit, clerics have taken to expressing their opinion about trans rights. Some refusing to give trans people communion while other using the pulpit as a place to espouse hatred. In 2024 the Vatican released ‘Dignitas Infinita’ which broadly denounces so-called ‘gender theory’ and rejects gender transition in general.
The government, the media and the pulpit have turned against the trans community en masse and in a relatively short space of time.
These three factors, along with many others that will be discussed another time, have cumulated to create the perfect storm for transphobia to fester in the public realm. I have already heard people use one of the above three sources, sometimes more, as justifications for their anti-trans rhetoric.
All of this means one thing; violence against trans people will increase.
Trans people are under threat. Online. In the streets. At work.
We currently live in an era where our lives feel that they have been upended for no other reason than people don’t like who we are. We live in a world where we are on guard and almost prepared from some comment.
With this in mind, next time someone makes a transphobic remark don’t let them say ‘it was a joke’. Next time you see a trans woman struggling in the bathroom, glance a smile. Next time you see a trans person being accosted, step in. Your support and your help could be the reason why we live another day.