“We will not disappear”: Trans+ voices rise after Supreme Court blow
Anti-trans activists are the ones in the minority—Trans+ people and allies are already proving that with action
People in my community are frightened for their own safety, since the UK Supreme Court ruling that trans women are no longer legally recognised as women. But fear has never stopped us sharing our compassion for one another.
“I find myself thinking about the multiple trans women I know struggling with agoraphobia,” said Jua O’Kane, an artist and Trans Pride Plymouth’s Communications Director. “This decision is another weight on their shoulders, another voice telling them it is safer to stay inside.
“Ultimately, that feels like the point - to provoke the fear in trans women that they have no choice but to detransition, or disappear from public life entirely.”
Anxiety and apprehension is palpable in my community since the ruling was handed down on 16th April. Disregarding pre-existing Gender Recognition Certificates, which formerly acknowledged affirmed trans female and male identities, the legal definition of “woman” will be based only on “biological sex”.
Or, to put it in more truthful, less intersex-erasing terms, the definition will be based on an individual’s sex being presumed and recorded as female at birth.
Alex Parmar-Yee has felt her well-being affected in the days since the ruling. They tell me: “I’m anxious about everyday activities like going to work or even leaving the house. I'm concerned about what my future holds.”
I had feared this legislative turn against us would happen in the UK. Amongst increasing government and high-profile animosity towards Trans+ people, I noticed the past year’s trend towards allowing even civilian anti-trans sentiment to dictate our lives and rights from positions of power
.I met news of the ruling with a vague feeling of gloom, and a sickening absence of surprise. Others around me, however, had held out more hope.
“Rather unusually for myself, I suspected that the Supreme Court would rule in favour of trans people,” Jamie Hanton told The Lead, “as a lot of supreme courts in the US have come out on the side of trans people.” But as he read the ruling, he was “shaking with anger”.
Julia Georgiou shared my disappointment that “the facts have been ignored and replaced by right-wing opinions. The threats to women and girls do not come from trans people. There are no trans champions in women’s top-level sport.”
There’s no reliable evidence either to suggest trans women hold any biological advantages over cisgender women, with studies confirming this to be the case in sport.
“There is no loud voice from women in general about the inclusion of trans women into single sex spaces, other than from transphobes,” Julia said.
And yet, here we are, having to combat the reversal of our freedoms being celebrated by some as a triumph for clarity.
The injustice is compounded by the fact that the so-called gender critical groups, including Sex Matters and The LGB Alliance, presented cases to the court while Trans+ people were excluded from speaking.
The devastating impact for trans women, from a law enacted without a thought for their inclusion in the process, is immediately evident and deplorable. However, there’s a cascade of effect, with trans women most harmed, but other Trans+ identities overlooked yet still affected.
As a nonbinary trans masculine person in the UK, for myself and others like me this is a more complicated ruling to navigate.
Any kind of nonbinary, intersex or gender-expansive legal recognition is set back by this ruling, and will continue to be for as long as it’s in effect. And, of course, there’s also the question of where this new state of law leaves trans men.
Jamie worries about how to use single-sex spaces, especially as a trans man who enjoys embracing his femininity. “I'm torn by decisions such as cutting my long hair, which I consider an important aspect of my male identity.” He’s been harassed and physically assaulted in the past by cisgender men in public toilets, and is “terrified” that abuses like these will be encouraged by this highly publicised ruling.
Amidst fear for the present, there’s a mutual agreement about the work to be done, building on hope for the future.
Jua has noted the optimism that can already be found without fighting for it. “I was blown away by the turnout at our local protest, and there has been a new surge of cisgender people following Trans Pride Plymouth.”
Opposition from allies brought a turnout of thousands to a protest in London’s Parliament Square. More across the country, in direct response to the ruling, brought that number to the tens of thousands.
Alex too has been “heartened by the outpouring of support from both long-standing allies and formerly quiet voices standing up for trans+ people in the UK.”
She picks up on a critical shift, from Trans+ allyship coming largely from within queer community, to cisgender and heterosexual people catching onto its importance.
As a volunteer with the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance she’s seen the advocacy network’s template letter to MPs on the ruling “getting a lot of traction.”
“I do believe that more and more ordinary members of the public are waking up to the fact that the trans community is being unfairly scapegoated and victimised,” Jua said. “My hope is that if we can keep cultivating that feeling, we will eventually arrive at a point where this type of cruelty towards trans people will no longer be politically viable.”
For many of us, efforts in advocacy will go on as before, if with greater urgency. Jamie, as a disabled person, has been focusing his energies online by “emailing local MPs, sharing information on protests across the UK, and informing friends and family on this decision”. Through all this, he’s been hearing out other members of our community on our worries.
Alex endures in their voluntary work, opening opportunities to engage with MPs alongside fellow volunteers “working at speed on campaigns focused on enabling more practical and visible support for Trans+ individuals”. But even in these times of heightened pressure to care for community, they stress the importance of looking after ourselves.
Advocating for oneself and community at times like these does mean work, which is all the more draining knowing how often we are ignored by those in power.
“It's very much an uphill battle against policy and sensationalist news outlets,” Jamie said, asking privileged and able allies to “be there for people who feel vulnerable”.
We can’t oppose injustices like these alone, and it inevitably takes the dissent of a public majority to effect meaningful change.
As ever, and more than before, we need our cisgender allies to show their support.
But as a community, Trans+ people also need to actively reach out to our allies.
As Jua puts it, we must “not disappear from public life, but forge new connections and alliances”. These alliances must include cisgender people.
Unity between us is already forcing mainstream press to take notice.
The visibility of people protesting nationwide shows us the way forward. It shows we can do more than hope.
We’re already proving we have what it takes to demonstrate what militant transphobes don’t want us to know—that they are the ones exposed and outnumbered.
About the author: As a queer, trans and disabled journalist, William Elisabeth Cuthbert (any/all) writes about the humanity in being marginalised. They hope this causes a shift in the minds of some who are otherwise ignorant, or indifferent, to the lives led by people too often viewed through ‘controversy’. In between, they spend their time writing queer historical fiction.
*I’ve used the term ‘Trans+’ to be inclusive of the many ways people describe and define their relationship to their own gender or absence of gender. This term is inclusive of transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, bigender, gender non-conforming and agender people - or indeed inclusive of any of the other ways people define their gender. This term is also inclusive of intersex people who have natural diversity in sex characteristics.
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