By Nathan Su
One year. It’s been one year since the UK Supreme Court ruling asserted the EHRC definition of woman to mean “biological sex.” The group, For Women Scotland, championed this as a win for the safety of women, but in reality, it was nothing more than a further attack on the safety of trans people. Since then, trans people and allies have mobilised to take a stand for their rights, and there is a need to reflect on our efforts and the future of trans liberation here in the North.
Despite claiming to protect women’s safety, the net effect of this ruling was trans people’s loss of safety, legal protection and access to healthcare. Puberty blockers were indefinitely banned with approval from all Executive parties: Sinn Féin, Alliance, DUP and UUP alike. NHS England clinical trials were paused, and the Executive could extend this here. Trans people have been undeniably pushed from public life: going to the toilet is a dangerous mission, Education Authority teachers have been encouraged by Education Minister Paul Givan to ignore Queer identity and out Queer young people to their parents, and single-sex spaces, including Girl Guides, have banned trans girls.
Men’s violence & the gender binary
However, women’s liberation and trans liberation are not mutually exclusive, as TERFs, conservatives and the far right would have you believe. Their struggles for safety and dignity are interlinked to the gender binary, which capitalism needs to distract from its constant crises. The threat is not transness but this fundamentally broken system, built upon exploitation and oppression.
Trans people are not responsible for the 30 femicides since 2020. To villainise them is nothing more than a misdirection from the real problem: the rigid gender binary and its function as a tool for oppression.
We must also remember that transphobia doesn’t just affect trans people, and gender is not simply “biology” but expectations. The Olympics’ ban on trans women and intersex athletes will do massive harm to normalising transphobia, but will also impact cis women in sports, who will be subject to genetic testing to determine if they are cis enough. The proliferation of transphobia is resulting in increased policing of women’s bodies and appearance, whether trans or cis.
DIY and privatised gender affirming care
For young people, restricting access to gender-affirming care has not stopped them from trying to access it. It has only funnelled those with the means into the DIY market, the “hidden economy” and privatised healthcare, the latter of which UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting has an eyewateringly (try £372,000) vested interest in (which is not suspicious at all!). Those without the means are left to suffer from the very things the Cass Review purports to care about, including mental ill health, family issues and an overall lack of compassion.
Without safe, widely available access to this life-saving care, young trans people will continue to be stuck in this vicious cycle of desperation, despair and at worst, death. Safety cannot be exclusive, it must be pluralist and that includes trans children.
How people fought back and where we’re heading
We haven’t lost. Last year’s demonstration on 17 May proved the people are willing to mobilise, as a 3,000-strong demonstration marched through Belfast in vibrant defiance of the Supreme Court Ruling. Pride reclaimed its voice as an anti-establishment political protest; organisers refused the presence of Executive political parties who sold out trans people. The pretty veil of rainbow capitalism disintegrated, revealing an ugly but unsurprising truth: corporations will only support us so long as they can monetise us.
Last December, Ireland’s first “LGBTQ+ led” publishing press, Faerie Press, launched its second anthology “Dreams”, allowing Queer young people to see themselves in stories and poetry. Whilst the capitalist state has pushed trans people out of public life, self-organising Queer groups have been popping up like wildfire. A year on, “Stand up, fight back!” are still salient words.
People who celebrate the ruling gave lip service to the “clarity” it provides, but that is farcical. All that has become clear is how we need a socialist feminist movement more than ever if trans liberation and equity are to be achieved. Movements are made by the people, so if you are someone who wants to make a better world for us all, join Solidarity today!
