(And all in under 10 minutes)
BY SOPHIE PERRY
You may have heard about the recent opinion piece by Suzanne Moore, published in The Guardian newspaper, and calling for the “protection of women’s sex-based rights”. It’s just one of the latest in a noted pattern of transphobic content published by the mainstream media platform.
This most recent piece has since received widespread criticism from both the public and internal staff members. In a strongly worded and publicly published letter to The Guardian’s editor, more than 300 staff members and contractors from across the world have signed their names in protest of the newspaper’s transphobic content.
There is a mounting pressure both internally and externally for the publication to address their “pattern of publishing transphobic content” and this critical pressure must continue so that The Guardian can, “do more to become a safe and welcoming workplace for trans and non-binary people.”
But in which other ways can we show our support as allies to the trans community? We’re glad you asked… Here are three things you can do right now to help fight transphobia, support trans equality and be a top notch ally.
1️⃣ Write your own letter to The Guardian
By writing your own letter critiquing and challenging The Guardian’s transphobic content you can help to support trans people and the internal staff who are taking this fight on. Every single letter sent in can make a difference by bolstering the case that The Guardian holds an anti-trans bias and that their readership will not support such a stance. Send your letter here: guardian.letters@theguardian.com
2️⃣ Fill in the Scottish Gender Recognition Act Consultation
It is vitally important that the voices of trans people and those who support trans equality are heard in reforming the Gender Recognition Act. You do not need to be trans nor Scottish to fill in the GRA consultation, but by filling it in you will help to change the GRA for the better.
Helpfully, Stonewall have also produced an extremely handy guide for filling the consultation in.
The deadline for the SGRA has now passed, but keep an eye out for other campaigns like this; the more supportive voices involved, the better #StandByYourTrans
3️⃣ Support trans people on social media
Transphobia online is rife. Research has proved this, but you can also see it every time you open up Twitter. It is never worth feeding trolls or engaging with hate groups, but there are some things that allies can do to help support trans people online. This includes:
- Responding to transphobic tweets, comments and statuses with statements of solidarity, e.g. “Women’s rights and trans rights aren’t at odds”
- Writing tweets of active support to trans people who are facing the brunt of abusive and anti-trans sentiments
Have other ideas of how to be a top trans ally? Let us know @DIVAmagazine
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