What’s it like to be a woman (trans or otherwise) or non-binary person since the EHRC tried to segregate trans people? Transactual’s new report goes into detail and makes grim reading. It’s based on hundreds of testimonials and shows that the EHRC interim update, and bigots’ misrepresentation of the Scottish Ministers verdict in the Supreme Court, is already resulting in harassment and threats of violence against cisgender (not trans) and transgender people alike.
Women of all kinds, not just trans women, are being harassed and threatened with violence simply for trying to exist – and because there are so few trans women in the UK and so much rabble-rousing reporting in the press, self-appointed crotch cops are picking primarily on non-trans women who they’ve decided don’t look womanly enough. That typically means women who aren’t slim, young, white and perfectly, stereotypically pretty.
From the executive summary:
Frequently, people trying to follow the guidance given to them are prevented from doing so or experience harassment and threats of violence as a result of being ‘in the wrong bathroom’.
Trans and cis people continuing to use the spaces they belong in have faced harassment and threats of violence from both venue staff and vigilante toilet police, including men coming into the women’s bathroom in order to harass someone they suspect is trans.
Many butch cis lesbians and intersex people in particular reported increased instances of harassment and exclusion due to not “looking like a woman”.
Many people report being excluded and bullied out of workplaces, being forced to choose between their mental health and dignity or their livelihood, and fearing for their ability to support themselves.
People also report being outed by having to stop or start using different bathrooms or by HR staff who are communicating changes in policies in targeted ways.
Trans people report being suddenly excluded from social spaces and clubs which have been safe previously, and now avoiding going out or only going to places confirmed as trans inclusive.
The changes are reported as empowering bullies who are already engaged in campaigns of harassment against trans people.
In both workplaces and otherwise, people were asked invasive questions about genitals, asked to produce Gender Recognition Certificates, and exclusion was frequently justified based on people’s perceptions of whether the trans person passed or based on what genital configuration they had; “you can’t use this until you are post-op”.
This is exactly what the EHRC intended. The EHRC’s guidance is not fit for purpose, is wrong in law, and is championing discrimination – and the Labour government, no friend to LGBTQ+ people, is complicit.
The people being hurt by state-sanctioned bigotry can’t wait years for the European Courts to find what we already know is true: the EHRC is in flagrant breach of multiple laws and is attempting to deprive trans people of their internationally agreed human rights. And by doing so it’s placing all women, trans men and non-binary people in danger.