CC: Prime Minister Boris Johnson, The Cabinet
Last April, you announced that your plans for reforming the Gender Recognition Act will follow three “very important principles”: protecting single-sex spaces, allowing trans people to live without fear of persecution whilst maintaining “proper checks and balances”, and protecting under-18s from making “irreversible decisions”.
On the surface these principles may sound reasonable, but we are incredibly concerned that the language you have used is very similar to the anti-trans rhetoric used by transphobic hate groups and organisations such as Woman’s Place UK, Transgender Trend and the LGB Alliance.
Transphobic groups have argued that to protect women’s single-sex spaces, trans women must be barred from entering them. They campaign against reforming the Gender Recognition Act, and claim that simplifying the process by which trans people update the gender marker on their birth certificate will result in a rise in sexual assaults against women. This is despite the fact that several countries have implemented similar reforms to their gender recognition laws without any negative impact to cis women whatsoever.
These transphobic groups also argue against any gender-affirming healthcare for trans under-18’s and mislead the public into thinking that under 18’s are being given gender reassignment surgery on the NHS. They are not. A handful of trans teenagers each year are given puberty blockers, a safe treatment available to trans teens on the NHS since 1989. Multiple scientific studies show that puberty blockers are a life-saving treatment for trans teenagers who want them.
Trans men, women and non-binary people young and old have always lived among us. They have used the single-sex spaces that align with their gender identity this entire time. The Gender Recognition Act has, for 16 years, provided a mechanism for trans men and women to update the gender marker on their birth certificate. Healthcare for trans youth has been available on the NHS for three decades. Trans equality was not widely seen as an issue until the Transgender Equality Inquiry of 2015 triggered a concerted campaign in the media to depict trans rights as a new threat to cisgender women like ourselves.
We reject this assessment. As cisgender women, we are angry that these groups claim to speak for us, and try to justify their bigotry against a vulnerable minority in our name. It is disturbing to hear an equalities minister repeat their talking points almost word for word while outlining plans to reform trans rights.
The fact that you chose to make this a priority during the biggest crisis the world has faced in decades is even more disturbing. During lockdown, hundreds of women have been killed by abusive partners. Ethnic minorities are four times more likely to die from COVID-19. Surely these issues are more urgent?
We sign this letter in the hope that you will listen to us, as well as transgender and non-binary people and organisations such as Stonewall, the LGBT Foundation and The Kaleidoscope Trust. We urge you to speak to trans youth, to seek out evidence and use facts, and to reconsider sharing talking points with groups that have been widely condemned as transphobic hate groups.
We do not need protecting from trans people. Please focus on protecting us from the dangers that are killing women right now.
Signed by 7712 cisgender women including:
Caitlin McCullough
A Rape Crisis Centre
Emily
A sexual violence survivors charity
Wendyl Harris
Act Up London
Philippa steele
Administrator
Joanne Harris
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Autistic Pride Reading
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Beauty Therapist
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Call centre worker
Susie Green
CEO Mermaids
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CEO, Abortion Support Network
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Rebecca Tadman
Chair, Board of Trustees Raze Collective
Nicola Longworth-Cook
Chair, Out2gether Worcestershire
Daisy Smith
Chef
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Chief Executive, National AIDS Trust
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Helen Greener
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Beth Ranjit
Consultant Psychiatrist
Christine Banks
Councillor
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Counsellor for Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Debbie Sheringham
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Amelia Womack
Deputy leader – The Green Party
Sue Jones
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Alyssa Ralph
Doctor
Jenny Budden
Doctor
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Doctor
Harriet Abley
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Caron Lindsay
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Sylvie Pope
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Faye Allen
Mother
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Mother to a trans child.
Kate Osborne
MP for Jarrow
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MP for Nottingham East
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MP for Oxford West & Abingdon
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