"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle" Martin luther King

'Inequality Bill'

UK Government plans to omit transgendered people from anti-discrimination legislation.

The UK Government is planning an all-encompassing anti discrimination bill, which it calls 'Framework for Fairness' which will bring together all the current different pieces of legislation brought in to prevent discrimination against people on the grounds of race, sex, religion, sexuality, disability and transgender status.

But the government is planning to leave out of this single equality bill one particular group; transgendered people. Unless you are a transsexual who is registered as such the new proposals will not prevent people from discriminating against you.

Consultation Period

The proposals argue that the law should not be used to protect transgendred men and women who "choose to adopt the appearance of the
opposite sex on a temporary basis as a matter of lifestyle choice" it describes the new law as "intended to provide protection for transsexual people with a diagnosable medical condition, and who intend to or are
living permanently in their acquired gender, rather than those who temporarily adopt the appearance of a different gender, perhaps as a matter of lifestyle choice."

Already transgendered people have reacted strongly to these sections of the consultation document; arguing that being transgendered is not a matter of 'lifestyle choice' and suggesting that the people who drafted the document know little about transgendered people. One MtoF transvestite said; "This isn't a matter of lifestyle choice, I was born like this. I didn't choose to be transgendered. This isn't my lifestyle, this is my life!"

Being excluded

Although this new legislation only really brings all the existing anti-discrimination legislation under one umbrella and does not - for the most part - seek to extend anti discrimination protection the effect will be rather different. Being the only group left outside the protection of the law will result in those bigots, Nazis, bullies and hate-mongers picking on transgendered. It will be like having a neon sign errected by the government which says 'Pick on these people'

Comment

This is an opportunity for transgendered people as well as a threat. We must persuade the government to change its mind and include us in this bill. What is the point of a piece of legislation which is about being inclusive which designed to be exclusive of one particular group? Increasingly, legislators around the world - most recently the state of New Jersey - have been recognising the importance of supporting transgendered people and that transgendered people need the protection of the law like everyone else. At the moment transgendered people can be sacked, bullied, harrassed or victimised at work, even if they never show their transgendered appearance at work, all completely legally. Transgendered people can be refused goods and services, completely legally and transgendered people currently have to live in the knowledge that the UK government does not take seriously their fears and problems.

The effect of this large, all-encompassing anti-discrimination legislation will result in those left outside its scope being increasingly harrassed and targeted by bullies and bigots wherever they may be found.

It is a measure of how comprehensively transgendered people feel discriminated against that so few feel that they can 'come out' publicly. Most transgendered people live unhappy and unfulfilling lives because they are not allowed to be who they are. We now have a chance which may not be available to us for many years, to argue our case and be acknowledged as a community which has a constructive role to play in our society.

A chilling statistic; in the United States the chances of being murdered are 1 in 18,000 for the population as a whole. If you are male to female transgendered the odds on you being murdered are 1 in 12. It s vital that TGs are protected here by the law, we all run greater risks just being ourselves in our everyday lives, going out, sitting at home, using the bus or the tube, going shopping, visiting friends, sleeping and making love. Many of the activities which most people take for granted are more risky for us. This is not a "lifestyle choice", this is living under the permanent threat of violence, harrassment and bullying on a daily basis. It means being refused service in shops, restaurants or cafes, it means being harrassed in the street, it means being refused cab rides home, it means being forced to move by neighbours.

Transgendered people are not asking for the Earth, we are simply asking for the same sort of reasonable protection under the law which every other man, woman and child has in the UK. The Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, on his first day in office, "I want the best of chances for everyone. That is my mission - that if we can fulfil the potential and realise the talents of all our people, then I am absolutely sure that Britain can be the great global success story of this century." Let us hold him to his words.

As a trans girl I spent half my life feeling guilty or ashamed of who I am, I underachieved in all areas. Now that I have decided to be myself, my achievements have been greater, my life more fulfilling and my contribution to society many times greater. Just imagine this multiplied by 600,000. Let us be true to ourselves.

I urge all transgendered people and their friends, partners and supporters to use the links above to the consultation site and to respond to this although the, ridiculuosly short consultation period has now expired.

Natacha Kennedy 2 February 2008