Munroe Bergdorf is a former GLAMOUR Lady of the Yr and one of many UK’s most progressive activists – campaigning for Black, trans and queer rights. She can also be a contributing editor at Vogue and a UN Ladies UK Changemaker.
Transgender Day of Remembrance 2024 takes place on 20 November and honours the reminiscence of transgender individuals world wide whose lives have been misplaced in acts of anti-transgender violence. Vigils will probably be held the world over, significantly within the US and UK, and visitor audio system will learn out the names of those that have died.
Final December, the federal government launched new transgender college steering that instructed that folks ought to all the time be intimately concerned in a baby’s selections about how they id. As Married At First Sight’s Ella Morgan advised us on the time, the steering was an enormous “disappointment” and step again. Final 12 months, hate crimes towards trans individuals additionally hit a file excessive. With America’s new president preaching harmful anti-trans rhetoric, Transgender Consciousness Week has by no means felt extra very important.
And so, we revisit Munroe’s highly effective essay on the misconceptions that urgently want altering concerning the trans group…
Misinformation is a large concern for the trans group proper now. It is rife. Once you’re listening to a couple of matter about trans lives, there’s a lot noise, panic and sensationalism, and it is not coming from our group. There’s pushback, which is coming from our group – we wish to be seen and heard and are preventing for our rights – however the misinformation about who trans persons are is coming from individuals in pretty privileged, highly effective positions who usually have considerably influential and impactful jobs within the media or in authorities.
Take the difficulty of conversion remedy, for instance. When probably the most highly effective minister in authorities, our Prime Minister, ignores public consultations in favour of transgender individuals having the ability to self-identify, then declares a future ban on conversion remedy for homosexual and bisexual individuals, however not us – it not solely then places out misinformation, however it reinstates the ethical panic that’s at present threatening transgender individuals.
That is not solely our rights, however our mind-set, our bodily wellbeing. Our entry to secure areas. The snowball impact that may have.
Transphobia has made its means into parliament. It is made its means into mainstream media. It is made its means into faculties and workplaces – it is sort of unavoidable, and fixed publicity to such sensationalist misinformation and condemnation takes its toll. After we’re speaking about trans rights, it is actually necessary that we keep in mind that misinformation on this time is rife.
False impression 1: Trans individuals should not have rights
Many individuals aren’t conscious of the protections that trans individuals have already got. Plainly a whole lot of most of the people suppose that we do not really have already got entry to sure areas, that we don’t already use such areas with out individuals being conscious, with out something dangerous taking place.
Beneath the gender recognition act, the regulation says that trans girls are girls. And the regulation says that we do have entry to the areas that align with our gender id. Exclusion on the premise of somebody being transgender is discrimination.
