TransActual has published its findings, highlighting discrimination and harassment
BY MEGAN ROGERS-JONES, IMAGE BY MIGUEL GUASCH FUXA FROM GETTY IMAGES
A new report has shed light on the abuse and exclusion the trans community has been facing since the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of the term “woman” earlier this year.
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling on 16 April, which stated that the definition of “woman” is based on biological sex in the Equality Act 2010, and despite the court stating that trans people still have legal protection from discrimination, transphobia has massively amplified in the UK. With trans and cis people being threatened with violence for just being in public, new testimonies from individuals published by TransActual spoke about their experiences being denied basic human rights, such as access to bathrooms and changing facilities because they “don’t look right”, as well as being outed in the workplace.
Keyne Walkers, Strategy Director for TransActual, said: “If the government cared about discrimination and violence against women, they would refuse any Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance that ends with organisations or individuals policing who goes into which bathroom, and restore equality law to a sound footing.”
“It never needed to be like this. As many legal experts have stated, the Supreme Court ruling was eccentric and at odds with the broad understanding of Equality Law as it has operated over the past 15 years.”
The Supreme Court’s passing of this law has set back the LGBTQIA+ community massively. And the ruling is affecting not only trans people but anyone who might be “suspected” of being trans, with many butch cis lesbians and intersex people in particular reporting increasing amounts of harassment.
Keyne added: “Organisations that would like to support trans people claim their hands are tied. Meanwhile, the guidance is acting as a bigot’s charter, creating confrontation daily that threatens to drive LGBTQ+ people out of work and public spaces.”
You can read TransActual’s The Trans Segregation report now.
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