At our meeting with MP Simon Opher back in September he talked about wanting to suppot the young Trans community around mental and physical health. As this fit with our 3rd Manifesto points, and lots of the crew are trans and non-binary, we took this on to find out the issues young Trans folks face in Stroud. This report documents this process and we recently brought it back to Simon Opher who has agreed to go a look for funding to support the setting up of a below medical level health space for trans youth in Stroud - stay posted for updates on that but for now have a read all about the issues and potential actions to solve them!
Language Note: In this doc, “transgender” is used to describe a person of any gender who identifies within or outside the socially perceived gender binary, in any way other than their gender assigned at birth. but also those who identify as non-binary/gender-queer/questioning, or those who use neopronouns, and all trans-adjacent people.
24/10/24 MEETING WRITE UP
Issues faced by the transgender community that we identified:
Transphobia is widespread and normalised in society, and this is institutionally condoned throughout schooling as well as in public opinion. Not only do schools and some teachers fail to challenge transphobia in education, but the DfE “keeping children safe in education” doc requires teachers to act in exclusionary ways towards students (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66d7301b9084b18b95709f75/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2024.pdf (see page 55 onwards)). Furthermore, transgender exclusion and transphobic rhetoric is seen heavily in public opinion, fueled by both the media and many Government officials. Some feel there is a lack of compassion and recognition for transgender people.
Transgender people are subject to extremely high body standards which are both binary and eurocentric. Body standards are an issue across society, but are particularly harmful to transgender people. Transgender people are subject to judgement not only from cisgender peers, but also other members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Transgender people face a severe lack of access to healthcare. With NHS waiting lists as long as they are, many people seeking medical support feel their situation is utterly hopeless. Those seeking private medical intervention are put at severe financial disadvantage by the costs of appointments and regular prescriptions. The current government has a lot to answer for, as their current legislation and measures will only exacerbate these issues further, and it is quite clear that this is the government's intention. This needs to change. Once within the healthcare system, transgender people are rarely treated with “dignity” or ”respect”.
Transgender people are isolated. There is a huge lack of community in Stroud across all parts of society, and for transgender people this makes socialising difficult, but also means there is a huge deficit of mutual aid and of a knowledge pool from which support resources and advice could be shared. There is a definite generational divide, with many community olders absent from conversations where their experiences and support would be vital. This social isolation is particularly bad in rural areas, and can be part of fueling transphobia in our community. Furthermore, transgender people are sometimes outsiders to the rest of the queer community.
There is a huge lack of accessible Mental Health support for transgender people, especially safe, effective support from specialists in the area. Transphobic therapists are a real risk for transgender people, and that is dangerous, especially as younger people may be unable to choose who they see.
The curriculum our schools teach is hetronormative and therefore does not equip LGBTQ+ students with advice or the tools they need to come to terms with their queer identities. This failure to include queer content in education exacerbates institutional transphobia by promoting ignorance and heteronormativity.
Transgender young people often have complicated home lives, as they are reliant on their parents' approval for autonomy. This reaches many other issues mentioned, such as access to healthcare, mental health resources, being recognised by the correct pronouns/name in education, and interactions with the wider queer community. Also particularly harmful in regards to home life is the possibility of being kicked out or unable to continue living with parents. In these situations some young people are able to stay elsewhere, but some will become homeless. This issue persists into young adulthood due to a lack of affordable housing in our area.
The surveillance and pressure put on transgender people acts to limit their autonomy. In order to pander to the “fears” of bigots in institutions, many transgender people compromise their own autonomy in order to assimilate with working and social environments.
The Big Question:
What can we do?
We can challenge institutions on transphobia by working with schools and educators to identify transphobia and stop it. This may involve info packs and workshops, as well as confronting transphobic staff in our local schools. We can encourage staff to push back against the DfE, justified as the guidance breaches EHRC advice (https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre/news/equality-watchdog-advises-government-gender-questioning-children-guidance-schools). We can also push back against the health service by challenging the government on their work to slim down the NHS, and ensure that mental health support professionals are safe to engage with transgender people.
We can build community support by reaching out to queer groups, as well as other marginalised communities, to build solidarity. We can use our community connections to facilitate queer mutual aid, aiming to practise harm reduction across the community as well as sharing knowledge and experiences. It is also important to connect socially.
We can challenge the financial burden put on transgender people by providing safe and quality compressive and shaping clothing, as well as gender affirming clothing. Some of this could be done through organised clothes swaps and donations, but some may need to be bought in. Access to no-questions-asked blood tests would support people financially as well as reducing harm in the medical sector.
We can further reduce harm in healthcare by ensuring GP appointments are accessible. This can be done by sharing community knowledge on “safe GPs” (willing to support transgender patients)
We can run education sessions with the community, inviting allies and other marginalised communities, in order to build solidarity and community support. A group we discussed would be women's groups, and this would be to challenge TERFs, as well as connecting over a shared interest in access to HRT.
We want physical spaces for the queer community that are safe, accessible, and welcoming. These spaces need to be inclusionary, and need to provide a much needed social space to the community. Transgender young people need a safety net of safe spaces to fall back on if their living situation becomes dangerous or unsuitable. This may take place in a mutual aid network or established institutions, but there need to be clear links made to these networks.
We need a better community understanding of queer history, both socially and in education. We want to see more representation of queer and transgender people in the mainstream, outside of just queer spaces. Representation needs to be genuine, and break traditional eurocentric, binary, white, middle class portrayals of LGBTQ+ people.
Transgender people need fun things to do! Social events designed to include transgender people of all ages, especially transgender people of other marginalised communities. We also want more positive news for transgender people, or atleast factual news that feels less hopeless and isn’t fearmongering.
We want to work to connect to other communities across the country to be able to share knowledge and experiences.
PRACTICAL ACTIONS
Following the meeting on 24/10/24, here is a list of practical actions we can take. Organised by the issue they are aimed to tackle:
Lack of Community Solidarity
Trans safe social events (under 18 events, going out to events together, running events for the community) - these need to be fun and engaging
Community education aimed at deconstructing prejudice and promoting solidarity - education sessions with cisgender allies + creating handout zines
Reaching out and meeting other communities locally and further afield
Institutional Transphobia
Meeting with educators and local gov to discuss and educate on how harm happens in institutions, what harm reduction looks like, and how we can push back against the institutional transphobia
Sharing awareness on the failings of the medical system in order to push back, as well as supporting individuals in the medical system with accurate advice
Supporting students in calling out transphobia in schools by working with educators as well as uniting students
Using demonstrations to make a stand against transphobia in our community
Getting local healthcare organisers to ensure healthcare providers are safe and accessible, and putting info of safe providers into a resource
Finance for Trans Youth
Supplying safe, quality shapewear to the community
Organising clothes swaps for transgender young people to easily access clothes they feel comfortable in
A community wardrobe
Finding financial aid for those on private health services
Safe Spaces
Getting pride flags in public spaces
A dedicated safe space for transgender people to socialise and seek support
Collecting resources together to point to where trans people can go for support
Secure, gender neutral indoor toilets open all day
This is nowhere near an exhaustive list of what actions we can take, nor will completing every action on this list be an end to the issues faced by the transgender community, but let it act as a jumping off point that we can build upon.
Useful references
DfE “gender questioning” policy:
Cass Report Vs Evidence:
The Cass Report:
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