We dig into how these new commitments may impact our community
BY NANCY KELLEY, IMAGES BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Today’s (17 July) King’s Speech reads as a relatively focused programme for government, rather than a laundry list of bills – but what’s in it for LGBTQIA people?
Bills explicitly focused on LGBTQIA communities
The King’s Speech makes good on Labour’s manifesto commitment to ban conversion practices stating simply: “A draft bill will be brought forward to ban conversion practices.”
This will be welcome news to everyone campaigning to end these abusive practices, though after years of the previous government making similar commitments and then failing to deliver, I’ll believe it when a draft bill is published and not before. Labour has always been unequivocally committed to a trans-inclusive ban, but the nature of the drafting in relation to religious practices and pseudo-psychotherapy will make the difference between a bill that protects our communities and one that isn’t really worth the paper it’s written on. Labour has the majority to get a watertight conversion practices bill through both Houses. It needs to use it.
Reform of the Gender Recognition Act doesn’t make it into the King’s Speech, meaning we’re unlikely to see GRA reform during this parliamentary session. Although this will be profoundly disappointing for many, it may not be a terrible thing in practice. Why? Because it is absolutely certain that a GRA reform when it comes will ignite new heights of transphobic organising and media toxicity. Recent public briefings on Labour’s policy position on GRA reform (which includes the creation of a two-year “cooling off period”) suggest the policy on offer right now is not one worth going through that kind of misery for. The Government needs to develop its thinking and build up its confidence to get meaningful GRA reform through.
Bills that could introduce significant positive changes for LGBTQIA people
As part of its economic recovery mission, the government has committed in the King’s Speech to introducing an Employment Rights Bill that will “ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”. A strong, well-drafted bill of this kind could absolutely deliver real benefits for LGBTQIA people, particularly for the most marginalised in our community. Similarly, the commitment to legislate for equal pay in the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, could lead to really positive outcomes for LGBTQIA people of colour and disabled members of the community. Workers rights are LGBTQIA rights.
The government is also committing to significant housing reform, including reform of the private rented sector, saying “legislation will be introduced to give greater rights and protections to people renting their homes, including ending no-fault evictions and reforming grounds for possession.” This bill has the potential to make meaningful improvements in the security and stability of housing for LGBTQIA communities. Successive governments have tended to duck meaningful reform in this area in the face of a strong and well-organised landlord lobby.
In the area of crime and policing, the proposed Crime and Policing Bill does have the potential to drive through more support for victims of crime, including hate crime which would benefit LGBTQIA communities who have faced a rising tide of hate over the last decade. It also opens up the door to equalising treatment of hate crime, as recommended by the Law Commission. In one of their bolder crime and justice pledges, the government is committing to bring forward plans to halve violence against women and girls, which is particularly important for LGBTQIA people who are at elevated risk of this kind of violence. While in theory some of the crime and policing initiatives could deliver better outcomes for our community, in practice criminal justice reform typically focuses on punishment, not prevention.
More positively, the government commits to “ensure mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health” and to “modernise the Mental Health Act so it is fit for the twenty-first century [Mental Health Bill].” These are both very important pledges for LGBTQIA communities, who are at twice the risk of experiencing mental distress compared to our cis and straight peers. However, the mental health system is chronically cash-starved, and tinkering around the edges will achieve nothing.
If these are some of the areas that offer the potential for positive change for LGBTQIA communities in particular, it’s only fair to say that there are other elements of the King’s Speech that strike fear into my heart. First among them: the commitment to a new Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill. While I wish this translated to bringing the UK back into alignment with the Refugee Convention and focusing on support for the most vulnerable groups, including LGBTQIA refugees, I fear this signals yet more restrictive border control and misery for our refugee siblings.
Overall this is a King’s Speech that inspires (very) cautious optimism. Whether and how it’s delivered could make a difference between a parliament that delivers positive change for LGBTQIA communities, and one that leaves us behind.
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