According to Jennie Kermode, a poet, filmmaker, and director for Trans Media Watch, which is based near Glasgow, the court of session decision upholding the UK government’s filibuster on Scotland’s gender recognition reforms causes a “feeling of exhaustion” in the trans community.
People are still optimistic that this case will move forward, but they also feel worn out from having to wait, as is the case for all trans people, whether it be for gender recognition or waiting lists that are so lengthy yet to receive psychological assistance.
The community also feels the British government is listening, and that has made such a difference, she continues, adding that there was once a promise that things would get better in Scotland but now there is more waiting.
Kermode makes reference to the recently released non-binary action plan from the SNP government, which states that “Whether or not it directly affects people, it does make people feel much luckier.”
She draws comparisons between this and recent remarks made by Kemi Badenoch, the UK’s secretary of women and equality, who claimed that gender-affirming care may be viewed as “a new form of conversion therapy,” and Liz Truss, a former UK prime minister who is putting forth draft policy to forbid transgender women from entering single-sex spaces.
According to Kermode, “at this point, it’s about using transgender people to frighten people into voting Tory rather than trying to do anything in the days this state has before the vote.” But whenever that kind of statement is made, it does have an impact. People start to feel more hopeless as a result of today’s decision, which will only make them feel worse.
The decision, according to climate activist Dylan Hamilton, “is as much a matter of Scotland’s politics as it is about the human rights of transgender folks.”
Reforming gender identification is “a small administrative change that makes our lives significantly easier to lead,” he continued. The fact that this cannot even be passed, in my opinion, is a somber indication of how powerful the opposition to our right to exist is.
Hamilton will continue to live day to day “with caution” and with the knowledge that “I should keep my transness hidden because there are so many out there who are against me,” according to the ruling’s practical effects.
“I am convinced that things will get better with time because we are seeing almost a clear parallel to how LGBT was treated in the 1980s,” he said. The fact that trans people are currently experiencing daily suffering and my heart aches for my community doesn’t change, though.
We all want to be seen for who we are, both by the laws and those we love, but this is something that is a challenge for transgender people, according to the LGBT Youth Scotland Trans Rights Youth Commission, which drafted the statement simultaneously.
It is very depressing and upsetting to discover the court ruling that “gender recognition reform seeks to take this burden off our shoulders.” We believe that this will eventually come to pass, enabling each of us to be respected equally.
However, despite the fact that transgender people in Scotland are still in purgatory, polling indicates that the British public does not prioritize these changes and instead prefers Holyrood to concentrate on issues related to the cost of living.
Two sexual assault cases involving transgender people, Bryson and Andrew Miller/Amy George, which came to light after the president’s passage, compound the failure of some professionals to engage the community on this issue.
The cases, in the opinion of self-identification critics, highlighted their worries that the simplification would ultimately change who could access services for women-only and expose them to abuse by predatory female offenders.
