Jeremy Corbyn has challenged Theresa May to allow people to self-identify as transgender without having to go through medical checks, pledging that Labour would support any government attempt to change the law.
…
But Corbyn said May would have his support if she scrapped the requirement for trans people to undergo medical tests, and instead allowed them to self-identify their gender, saying legislation could be passed with Labour backing if the Tories and DUP had a free vote.
“Discrimination has gone on too long. The Gender Recognition Act does not allow trans people to self-identify their gender and forces them to undergo invasive medical tests. This is wrong,” he said.
“Labour recognised this in our manifesto, pledging to update the act. Theresa May told Pink News that ‘changes need to be made’ but failed to include anything on this in the Conservative manifesto.
“So, I say to her today, Labour will help you keep your promise. Bring forward a bill to update the act and improve trans rights and Labour will back you. You can give your MPs and the DUP a free vote and Labour will make it law.”
There is no mention in the article of legal recognition of nonbinary genders, which is disappointing. I am a little nervous of a shoving-us-under-the-bus situation, even though this would be a hugely positive step for binary trans people.
if you have people in your communities who make you feel unsafe or like you cannot criticize them, especially if they have risen to positions of assumed authority and leadership, question that.
people don’t make you feel uncomfortable for no reason. talk to other people in your community about them. you will likely find other people who feel the same. you may find the reason why you feel that way.
question people’s actions in an individual context. be critical of anyone who values ideological purity over kindness. be critical of how people use their identities to assume intellectual authority or silence others.
be critical of people who wield academia and intellectualism to gain power within our spaces. just because someone speaks eloquently or uses big words does not mean what they say is right.
abusers exist in every space. they exist within safe spaces. they exist within radical spaces. they exist within friend groups. they assume the language and behaviour of any group they are in and use it to their advantage. they will make you feel ignorant, they will make you feel like youre being oppressive if you question unsafe behaviour, they will make you feel “less radical” or less deserving of space. they will make you feel like your feelings and opinions and autonomy is unimportant.
be wary of this. please. i have started seeing this too much within trans/social justice/radical spaces.
if someone is making you feel uncomfortable, no matter who they are, even if you feel like you “dont have a good enough reason” to feel that way - talk to someone about it.
Officials in Denmark have announced that the nation will no longer classify being transgender as a mental illness, the first country in the world to do so.
Trans issues are more visible than ever before, and yet the World Health Organization still classifies being trans as a disorder (though the WHO is reportedly working to revise that definition). Denmark, on the other hand, will formally separate itself from that classification, effective January 1, 2017.
“At the moment, transgender is listed as a mental illness or behavioural problem,” Social Democrat health spokesman Flemming Moller Mortensen told Danish news agency Ritzau. “That is incredibly stigmatising and in no way reflects how we see transgender people in Denmark. It should be a neutral diagnosis.”
He added: “The WHO is currently working on a new system for registering diagnoses. It has been working on it for a very, very long time. Now we’ve run out of patience, and want to send out a signal saying that if the system is not changed by October, then we in Denmark will go it alone.”
HELL YES, Denmark. Set a precedent and demand that the rest of the world follows your lead. Yes yes yes.
February is upon us, and the picture for anti-transgender legislation
has begun to emerge. In 2015 there were 20 state-level bills intended to
target transgender people. All of them were either defeated or carried
over to the next legislative session. This year has seen the number grow
to at least 28 pieces of legislation, and we’ll likely see more before
the sessions are over. […]
State Sen. Ron Alting. the man behind Indiana’s push for gay rights dropped this LGB bomb Monday.
Alting said “Its (transgender visibility) is so new to legislators and the public I might add, has trouble getting their hands around it understanding it’ Alting continued “Gender language would not be in the best interest of Hoosiers and would not be in the best interest of the sexual orientation (effort) for equal rights. Period.’
Alting told Wifi.com this is something he has been working on for the past 20 years.
“Getting sexual orientation into the civil rights code of Indiana is enormous, enormous,” said Alting. He said Senate Bill 344 has the most potential of passing. The bill prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation but not gender identity.
“I think with the transgender language the bill will struggle getting votes to get the entire bill out of the Senate,” said Alting. He said tabling transgender protections, for right now, is in the best interest of getting equal rights for lesbian and gay people.
CLICK THE HEADER LINK TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE AND WATCH THE VIDEO.
Oh hey, it’s like Barney Frank and the HRC all over again!
Jesus
in which cis gays just fucking stampede over trans ppl in the effort to further their own assimilation
this type of mess. it don’t make any sense, politically and humanely.
ah that post was about cafabs saying “trans people” in order to portray violence committed against trans women as ‘violence committed against trans “people”’ in an attempt to profit of off it
for example it is so often that i see charities for ‘trans people’ pop up in response to an act of violence committed against a trans woman, and gain donations from well meaning people, only for all of the money to go towards trans men, and not to the people who’s suffering actually warranted the donations.
opiumhug then commented that cis people also use the same term: ‘trans person’ to refer to a trans woman in a way that implies that they aren’t really a woman, but something else. which is also a good point
After protests over the erasure of trans women of color from Robert Emmerich’s Stonewall, expectations are high for the short film Happy Birthday, Marsha!, about trans activist Marsha P. Johnson. If the trailer’s any indication, this movie will slay!
Marsha features acclaimed Tangerine star Mya Taylor in the title role.
The trailer shows off a sumptuous, hyper-real 60’s aesthetic.
The film also features trans actresses Eve Lindley, Cherno Biko, and Rios O’Leary-Tagiuri.
There’s even a glimpse of Marsha P. Johnson herself in the trailer!
That’s right — it’s gonna be legendary.
BuzzFeed News caught up with filmmakers Reina Gossett and Sasha Wortzel, who showed us some wonderful exclusive images from the making of the movie.
Gossett told BuzzFeed News: “The pictures were all taken during the shooting of our ‘Hotel Dixie’ scene in which Marsha, Sylvia, Bambi and Andorra are hanging out in a hotel room they share.The scene is a flashback to 1965 when Sylvia is new to their scene and to sex work. Marsha is acting a as a sort of mentor to Sylvia.”
Commenting on the rich look of the film, Gossett notes: “We wanted the movie to reflect Marsha’s beauty. She wasn’t really fancy but she was fanciful, and when we talk about aesthetics it’s about the beauty of how she relates to other people.”
Wortzel adds: “Frequently people expect that if a film is political it’s not going to be beautiful. It was really important for us to make a film that was deeply political and personal in many ways but also gorgeous to look at.”
Happy Birthday Marsha is currently raising funds on Indiegogo, to make sure the film will be as amazing and beautiful as possible.
In an era of unprecedented
visibility, the transgender community is at a crossroads. Do we work
transgender people into current systems such as education and the
military or do we work to significantly transform these structures and
society as a whole? While the majority of media attention has gone
towards integrating trans people into the dominant culture, is this the
right decision for the community? Many activists, scholars, and
community members say no. Read more.
Very well sums up my feelings on Pride With a Capital P, and why I cringe whenever I see a yellow = on a blue background.
thank you for reminding me that i’ve still got an hrc sticker on the car that used to be my mother’s. i’ve tried telling her that they’re shitty, but she’s shut me down every time, so, like my gender, i’ve just stopped talking about it, and she keeps supporting those fuckers
