APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights chair Crispin Blunt MP wrote an article for Trans Awareness Week 2020 in Politics Home.
You can read the full article here.
Crispin Blunt MP and Sue Pascoe: It’s time to correct the stoking of alarm and spreading of misinformation about trans people
Chair of the APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights Crispin Blunt MP wrote the following piece for Conservative Home with Sue Pascoe, Acting Area Chairman of the Conservative Women’s Organisation in North and East Yorkshire:
As the UK strives for a new global place in the world, it’s important that we place equal weight on our personal freedoms, the prosperity of our communities, and equity of opportunity for our people as we level up our country.
We must not leave any section of our society behind because of misunderstandings, prejudice or fear. It is the first duty of government to foster an environment where this exists for everyone. We hope as a Party, a Government and members of society that we can each hold out a helping hand to all those who still struggle, who still face the difficulties of daily life, who still cannot be their authentic selves.
Our freedom and our basic humanity are two of the key components of what defines us as individuals. When we cannot be our authentic selves, our freedom and our humanity are taken away from us.
During recent months, we had begun to despair with some sections of the media and its relentless stoking of alarm and spreading of misinformation about trans people. There appear to have been orchestrated campaigns to try and roll back the hard-won rights of not only trans adults but of vulnerable trans young people as well.
We would like to bust some myths.
Women and trans people have the same need to live in safety from abuse, sexual harassment and physical violence. Trans women and trans young people are not aninherent threat to women. Sadly, there are a small number of abusive people in this world of all genders and measures and efforts should focus on stopping their actions.
We are out of step with other countries around the world in adopting rights for transgender people – from such countries as Pakistan, Argentina and Colombia to many of the states in the US to countries closer to home like Portugal, Belgium and Ireland. United Nations Free and Equal recommends that a range of measures are introduced by states to support transgender people, from legally recognising the gender identity of trans people in official documents through a simple administrative process in line with their lived identity to gender-affirming healthcare services free from stigma and discrimination.
The World Health Organisation made clear in 2019 that being transgender is not amental illness, and should not be treated as such.
Considerable scientific evidence has emerged demonstrating a durable biological element underlying gender identity.
Language respecting the sex in which trans women and trans men live has been common decency in Britain since the 1970s, and has been clearly upheld in UK law since 2004.It is never necessary to humiliate or degrade trans people in order to discuss sex and gender or to address health needs or social inequalities.
The Equality Act brought in the concept that gender reassignment was a ‘personal process’ rather than a ‘medical one’. Trans people have been accessing single-sex service and facilities in line with their lived identity for many decades, and with proportionate protection from discrimination since 2010. Misinformation is driving current fear to try and change this. It will remain permitted under the Equality Act to exclude trans women from single sex facilities, such as a woman’s refuge, on a case by case basis, but it would be anathema to British values to attempt to blanket-ban trans people from toilets and shop changing cubicles.
Trans people already access services matching their gender under the law, except in restricted individual circumstances, with all the protections that have been campaigned for to balance rights. This is why we say so much of the campaigning is misinformed.
All that’s been asked for now for GRA reform is a minor change in administrative arrangements for birth certificates that only impacts the holder of the certificate onmarriage, death, getting a job or a mortgage. Can you remember when you last used your birth certificate or even where it is? GRA reform has never had anything to do with toilets or changing room cubicles.
Currently, less than 0.03 per cent of under 18s in the UK are referred to gender identity development services, of which only a tiny number may eventually go on to receive puberty-delaying medication for two or three years while under 16.
Changes to curtail trans young people’s healthcare could have serious unintended detrimental consequences on wider children’s health services. We have clinical safeguards such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to ensure best evidence-based protocols. We must be guided by evidence and clinical experts and not lobby groups to make policy decisions.
Only 5,000 trans people currently have a GRC, fewer than 100,000 have changed their driving licence or passport. The numbers remain small and any proposed reform of the Gender Recognition Act would only apply to people living permanently in their gender with all their other ID such as passports or driving licences already changed.
We really wonder if the good people of our great nation realise they are being manipulated through fear and false information to roll-back the basic dignity, privacy and safety of trans people who are just trying to live ordinary lives.
Yes, the bodies and life experiences of trans people will never be identical to those of people who are not trans. But that is not good reason to segregate and demonise them. It is also the same with trans young people. Parents of young people who are struggling with their gender simply want their children to have unconditional love and support – to explore their identity and time to enjoy their childhood with assistance from trusted multi-disciplinary professionals in the field free from political interference. That is the right and humane way forward.
In recent weeks, voices have spoken up from global businesses in the City, global media and entertainment businesses, members from across the Commons and the upper chamber; voices from across all sections of society, from within the LGBT community and its close allies, from faith leaders and parents of trans children but, most of all, from trans people with a simple message.
With one voice, asking for trans inclusion and equality, trans people say: we are just like you, human beings who just wish to go about our lives free from hate and persecution. Be kind, let us love and be loved. Let us be our authentic selves. We are not an ideology to be fought over by others.
The bottom line is most people in the UK do not want to reduce trans people’s inclusion in services or undermine their identities. Polling consistently shows the majority of women support trans women’s inclusion in services and reform of the GRA (see the British Social Attitudes Survey and recent YouGov polling).
Ipsos MORI reported this month that 70 per cent of Britons believe that transgender people face discrimination, with a quarter (26 per cent) saying they face a great deal. We have ended up entangling ourselves in unnecessary scaremongering against trans people at a time when most people want us focused on tackling Covid-19, rebuilding our economy and bringing our society together.
Equality and inclusivity for all is an essential bedrock of our free society. We wish to work towards a society where we treat each other with respect, dignity, compassion, tolerance and understanding. We wish to see policy measures which bring social cohesion, and focus on our common welfare, as we work together to emerge from these troubling times.
MPs mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Interphobia
MPs mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Interphobia
MPs from 8 political parties expressed strong support for LGBT+ rights by signing an Early Day Motion tabled by the APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights Chair, Crispin Blunt MP, to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Interphobia and to reaffirm the importance of the UK’s support for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex people globally.
Crispin Blunt MP noted that ‘despite seeing many signs of progress in LGBT+ equality over the last year in some parts of the world, there have also been attempts to roll back the human rights of LGBT+ people in others, in particular now during the global coronavirus pandemic. We remain concerned for example about reports of unlawful arrest of LGBT+ people and misuse of emergency powers in Uganda, the threat to legal gender recognition in Hungary, and the scapegoating of LGBT+ communities. The UK, as co-chair of the Equal Rights Coalition with Argentina, and as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, has a crucial role to play in supporting LGBT+ rights, people and civil society organisations globally. So too, does the APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights as we continue to connect MPs and Peers in the UK with their counterparts across the world as part of our Ambassadors project.’
Vice-chair of the APPG and country ambassador for Ukraine Stewart McDonald MP added that ‘we know that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on groups that are already facing marginalisation, including LGBT+ people both in the UK and across the world, and therefore now is the time to ensure that LGBT+ people do not get left behind in the response to COVID-19. As APPG country ambassador to Ukraine I am continuing to work closely with Ukrainian LGBT+ activists to support the fight for LGBT+ rights across the region’.
The full text of the EDM can be found below:
International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Interphobia 2020
EDM #475
Tabled 13 May 2020
2019-21 Session
That this House notes that 17 May is the annual International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Interphobia to highlight the violence and discrimination that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex communities and other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) continue to face; further notes with concern that the covid-19 pandemic is increasing inequalities for many marginalised groups globally, including LGBT+ people particularly in the areas of access to healthcare, housing, employment as well as misuse of emergency powers and increase in hate crime and domestic abuse for those in lockdown; celebrates civil society defending LGBT+ rights around the world, including in the jurisdictions where LGBT+ identities remain criminalised; commends the UK’s role as co-chair of the intergovernmental Equal Rights Coalition which advocates for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people; maintains the importance of the UK’s role in promoting and protecting LGBT+ rights globally; and calls on the Government to continue to advance and uphold the rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people.
First ever dedicated debate on LBT+ Women's Health Inequalities to take place in House of Commons
On Tuesday 10 March 2020, there will be a Commons debate on Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Women’s Health Inequalities, to mark LBT Women’s Health Week. The subject for debate was determined by the Backbench Business Committee, and will be led by APPG LGBT+ Chair Crispin Blunt and member Hannah Bardell MP. It is the first time this subject has received a dedicated debate in the House of Commons, having last been last addressed back in 2014 in the House of Lords, led by our Vice-Chair Baroness Barker.
Resources
The House of Commons Library has prepared a debate pack for Tuesday’s debate with useful background and links.
The transcript of Baroness Barker’s oral question on improving health outcomes for lesbian, bisexual and trans women in the House of Lords on March 5.
The National LGB&T Partnership has collated some facts and figures on LBT health inequalities.
Stonewall has published a comprehensive Health Report on LGBT+ health as part of its LGBT in Britain research series with YouGov.
Public Health England’s report Improving the health and wellbeing of lesbian and bisexual women and other women who have sex with women outlines the significant health inequalities, and specific barriers to services faced by lesbian, bisexual and other women who have sex with women (LBWSW) .
Last year the Women and Equalities Select Committee published an inquiry on Health and Social Care and LGBT Communities.
Cosmopolitan has published an article “Are queer women being failed by our healthcare system?“.
The APPG LGBT+ has published a blog for Intersex Awareness Day with information on intersex issues.
For more information please contact the APPG LGBT+ Coordinator (anna.robinson@appglgbt.org).
APPG Members meet with Ukrainian LGBTQI Activist
Last week, Ukrainian women’s rights and LGBTQI activist activist Vitalina Koval, with the support of Amnesty International UK, came to the UK Parliament to discuss women's and LGBTQI rights in Ukraine with APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights members Lord Cashman, Martin Docherty-Hughes MP, Crispin Blunt MP, and the Rt Hon Nick Herbert CBE MP, chaired by APPG LGBT+ Vice-Chair Stewart McDonald MP.
While there have been some positive developments in Ukraine in recent months, the overall situation remains extremely concerning human rights in general and LGBT+ rights in particular.
In her hometown of Uzhgorod, western Ukraine, Vitalina is coordinating the work of a community centre for LGBTI people which offers peer to peer support for LGBTI people. As an outspoken LGBTI advocate and activist Vitalina has suffered attacks and was in March 2018 attacked for speaking up for her and other’s rights at a protest held on International Women’s Day. A radical group called "Karpatska Sich" doused her with red paint while she was participating in the event causing chemical burns.
Thank you Vitalina and Amnesty International UK!