In August this year, Suella Braverman (then attorney general, now Home Secretary) said it was “lawful” for schools to deadname trans kids in education.
In July, Nadim Zahawi (chairman of the Conservative party) sparked fear of a new Section 28 for trans people when he said he wanted to protect young people from “damaging and inappropriate nonsense being forced on them by radical activists.”
That’s why people like 29-year-old George White are so important in UK schools.
George is trans, and he teaches religion education at St Paul’s Catholic School in Evington, Leicestershire – where he went to school when he was a teen.
He says it’s “really important” that kids hear about LGBTQ+ issues from a young age and hopes his journey and openness about being trans will help others struggling with their gender identity.
George White contributed to this book which is structured around the Equality Act.
“Regardless of what the child or the family’s beliefs are, at some point in life, they’re going to encounter someone who is different,” he tells PinkNews.
“I think it’s pretty much impossible to follow the Christian call to love your neighbour if you don’t know what your neighbour might be going through.”
He acknowledges that not everyone has to understand each other entirely, but he says it’s important to be “compassionate” and “recognise you’re speaking to another human and not to a statistic or something you’ve read about in a book”.
“When I tell my story, I’ve noticed a real shift in attitudes from kids that you wouldn’t necessary expect it from.
“That story aspect gives us a level of humanity that makes compassion easier.”
‘It doesn’t make you less of a Christian because you reach out and include LGBTQ+ people’
George believes there is a “misunderstanding of what faith is asking us to do”, when it is used in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and says he finds the negativity around faith and the catholic religion “particularly disappointing”.
“I think there’s a view that you can get these things [being part of the LGBTQ+ community] away from people,” he says.
“Look at conversion therapy which believes you can remove these things from people.
“It’s an unhealthy way of looking at it, it’s not recognising the vast diversity that God can create people in, and it’s not recognising the call to love one another.”
George White works to ensure the catholic region is inclusive. (George White)
The 29-year-old says he’s involved in “liberal Catholic circles” which “pay attention to stuff that’s coming through in society”.
George refers to Pope Francis, who is the head of the Catholic Church, as an example of how religion can adapt to become more accepting.
He mentions some of the Pope’s kind acts gleefully, which he says include “gifting funds to trans people who are struggling and telling a gay person God has made them like that and doesn’t have a problem with it”.
“It doesn’t make you any less of a Christian because you reach out and include LGBTQ+ people.
“You’ve got to separate what the rules are from the human experience of what people are living.”
‘Include’ don’t just ‘tolerate’
George explains that Catholic Church teaching says: “LGBT people should be accepted with sensitivity, compassion, and respect, and any sign of unjust discrimination in that regard should be stopped”.
He says all religions should do their best to “include” rather than “just tolerating” those who are are from the LGBTQ+ community.
In order to move forward he believes it’s important for churches to open up to LGBTQ+ inclusion which includes recognising people’s pronouns, celebrating the community through inclusive prayers, and offering leadership roles for women.
Offering advice to young queer people who are discovering themselves, George said it’s important to “take your time and figure out what’s important to you”.
“I went through a phase of thinking I have to be one or the other,” George shares, while referencing the decision he felt he needed to make between his religion and gender identity.
“It sounds cliche but everything is going to be OK. There are far more accepting spaces than you realise, there’s places online, in-person, but take your time to figure out what’s important to you.”
He also shares a great tip for those who aren’t supported by those around them: “If you’re somewhere where people don’t respect your identity and your journey, go somewhere else.
“Do not stay anywhere you aren’t wanted, because there are plenty of spaces where you will be recognised as having full human dignity and being a special creation.”
Ky Schevers was confused about her gender, and detransitioned after being “sucked in” by “gender-critical feminism”. Now, she’s rebuilding her life.
Schevers, who is transmasculine, genderqueer and uses she/ her pronouns, began medical transition by taking testosterone when she was 20, after coming out as a trans man.
But Schevers soon realised that her gender wasn’t binary.
“I had tried living as a more binary trans guy but that didn’t really work out, and I felt more genderqueer,” she tells PinkNews. “Then I thought I felt more like a butch dyke, and I kind of wanted to explore that part of myself.”
Looking for support, she turned to online forums.
“I was expressing these doubts and in a psychologically vulnerable place.”
She was approached by a woman who Schevers describes as “fairly TERFy” (TERF stands for trans exclusionary radical feminist) and had, like her, been reading some content online about detransition.
“I feel like we both got sucked in towards transphobic or gender-critical feminism because, firstly, those are the people who were trying to latch on to stories [like ours],” Schevers explains.
“It kind of made sense to me, like I wasn’t sure how to reclaim the female or butch parts of myself without drawing on some of the stories I’d already heard – that there’s pressure on butch lesbians to transition, or they’re transitioning because of internalised misogyny.”
Over the next few years, Schevers descended down an anti-trans rabbit hole. She found a community in circles of detransitioned radical “feminists”, and was held up as an example of transness being a result of internalised misogyny, homophobia and trauma.
“It was very well-attended a whole lot of TERFy lesbians who showed up to hear about the poor lesbians who got sucked in… they just ate that up. Now looking back, I can see I got love-bombed, there was lots of positive attention.”
Schevers describes this sense of community and support as “intoxicating”, and adds: “It felt like we were doing this important work, and helping people. A lot of us had gone through this sort of intense conversion experience, converting to this particular interpretation of radical feminism, lesbian feminism.
“But I feel like most of us were in some kind of real distress and believing in this stuff felt good. We did find connection with each other, we were just connecting over transphobic beliefs and also, I would say, self-harm.”
It was very cult-like, it was very controlling.
Schevers is clear that there is nothing wrong with detransition, and that everyone’s journey of gender discovery is different. The problem is that when those people search for support, they are more often than not finding radicalised, anti-trans communities to lean on.
“This is one of the reasons I feel like there needs to be more talk about these issues outside of transphobic groups, if they’re the only people talking about it, it’s easier for people to get sucked in and radicalised and end up believing a bunch of transphobic crap.”
The process of extricating herself from the group she found herself embedded in was gradual, Schevers says: “It was very cult-like, it was very controlling. It’s one of those things where it’s easy to join the group, harder to leave.”
Once, before she even admitted to herself that she wanted to get out, she happened to attend a book reading by a gay man who had been through conversion therapy.
“The way he described his experiences resonated with me,” she says.
“A light bulb went off, but I was also like, ‘Oh, s**t.’ You don’t necessarily want to believe you accidentally created an ex-trans community, that you’ve been doing conversion therapy on yourself.”
Ky Schevers realised links between TERFs and the far-right
It wasn’t the first time right-wing Christians has “misused” her writing, she says.
“But at the time has book came out, I was already saying: ‘My transition didn’t really hurt me.’ I was trying to make peace with being genderqueer and trans. I couldn’t say that yet, because I would have gotten too much backlash from other detransitioned women.”
The book helped her to realise the ties between trans-exclusionary radical feminism and the far-right, as she saw that Anderson was parroting “a lot of the same arguments that these supposed feminists were making”.
“I was horrified because I thought the point of radical feminism was to fight the patriarchy and dismantle it, not like ally [with the right] to go after trans people.
“But when you’re siding with the Christian right just to go after trans people, you’re just a transphobe. You do not care about fighting the patriarchy, sexism, or homophobia, you just want to go after trans people.”
Anderson’s use of her writing made Schevers think.
“If telling my story is supposed to help uproot the patriarchy, and the patriarchy is using it, well there’s a problem here.”
As time went on, Schevers began to feel more at peace with herself and her transition, and consequently began feeling much happier.
I kind of realised that a lot of these like supposed feminists are just using me.
But what surprised her was that the anti-trans radical feminists around her were “threatened” by her happiness.
“It was actually a disturbing experience, because I’m feeling happier, but they didn’t really care. Obviously, I knew conservative Christians never had my best interests at heart, and I kind of realised that a lot of these like supposed feminists are just using me, and then I realised these other detransitioned women in my own community just want to use me.”
Getting out meant cutting off most of the people around her, Schevers says, and it took her a long time to speak out publicly about her experience.
“I felt comfortable actually sharing my story and speaking out and talking about this stuff because I don’t want people to suffer like I did,” Schevers says.
“I don’t want people to fall prey to toxic communities.”
And to those people who may be thinking about going through detransition, Schevers remarks: “People should be asking, ‘What do you need? What do you need to be well?’ We need to help people figure out if it’s transition that’s the problem, or if it’s living in a society wants everyone to see transitioning as harmful.”
A trans woman won a major Delhi region for her party during an election on Wednesday (7 December).
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Bobi won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election after votes were counted this week.
The trans politician won Sultanpur-A ward against Congress candidate Varuna Dhaka by 6,714 votes according to Indian Express.
Her win came just hours before it was announced that the AAP crossed the finish line with 134 seats, winning against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The win means that the AAP now holds a strong majority over the municipal corporation, which makes up one of the three municipalities in Delhi, overseeing the region.
Voters line up to cast their vote in the MCD elections. (Getty)
Sultanpur’s new representative, who is often nicknamed Bobi “Darling”, has routinely said she would work in cleaning up the corruption within the MCD and “beautify” the constituency.
“I want to dedicate my victory to the people who worked so hard for me,” she said.
“I would like to thank everyone. Now I just have to work for development in my area.”
A long-time social worker, Bobi originally ran as an independent candidate during the 2017 MCD election, but later joined up with the self-proclaimed “anti-corruption” party.
She is also well known for her work toward improving education and social mobility in and around Sultanpur.
Her victory was incredibly close during pollings, with BJP regularly overtaking AAP multiple times before votes were fully counted.
In the end, BJP failed to win the constituency and the wider election, finishing with 104 seats according to NDTV.
Bobi’s win is a huge step for LGBTQ+ representation
The victory is another huge step for LGBTQ+ rights and representation in India.
While the country has many rights in place for queer minorities, it still has a long way to go in actualising true equality.
Same-sex marriage is still forbidden, despite routine attempts by activists to reverse the government’s policy.
Lead petitioners Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dange argued that not extending the rights of marriage to LGBTQ+ couples is an affront to their human rights.
The inability to marry means that the couple cannot adopt together, nor can they inherit each other assets.
Additionally, it means that hospital visits for medical emergencies could be refused since the two are not legally recognised as family.
As part of Trans Awareness Week, the community honours those we’ve lost on Trans Day of Remembrance every year.
Candlelit vigils take place worldwide each year commemorating the trans lives lost to transphobic hate crimes each year. This year, those vigils will happen on Sunday (20 November).
As well as a time to remember those lost to violence, and to raise awareness of hate, Trans Awareness Week is also about honouring those who fought so hard for the community and for their right to exist.
From Mexican revolutionaries to New York drag queens, these trailblazers prove that trans and non-binary lives have always mattered.
Rita Hester
Trans woman Rita Hester’s tragic death in 1998 sparked the existence of Trans Day of Remembrance as it’s known today.
Hester was a popular part of the Boston trans community and was intertwined with the city’s rock scene. Described as a magnetic personality who “was out for good times,” there was rarely a moment when she wasn’t dancing the night away with friends
On November 28, 1998, she was killed at her home in Massachusetts in a horrendous crime that still hasn’t been solved. In response, a candlelight vigil was held, with 250 people attending.
This later inspired activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith to create a web project named Remember Our Dead which honoured trans people who were victims to horrible hate crimes.
This became Transgender Day of Remembrance and has been held in cities across the world ever since.
Lucy Hicks Anderson
Lucy Hicks Anderson was born in 1886 and became a socialite and hostess. (Twitter/@historyteller)
The story of Lucy Hicks Anderson proves that, no matter your background, the struggles of trans people across the world are ubiquitous.
Anderson was born in Kentucky in 1886. From an early age, she expressed a desire to present as female and socially transitioned in her teens under advice from doctors despite the term transgender not yet existing.
After leaving school at age 15, Anderson worked in various jobs until she was able to buy a California brothel, becoming a well-known socialite and hostess.
When claims that an outbreak of disease came from her establishment, Anderson was forced to undergo a medical examination that outed her to authorities.
Attorneys tried her for perjury, claiming that she had deceived the government about her gender. During the trial, she stated: “I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman. I have lived, dressed, acted just what I am, a woman.”
The court convicted Anderson and sent her to a men’s prison. After serving her sentence, Anderson relocated to Los Angeles where she lived until her death in 1954.
Amelio Robles Ávila
The amazing thing about trans activism is it can take several forms – from street protests to simply correcting pronouns. In Mexican trans colonel Amelio Robles Ávila’s case, it was holding a pistol to a transphobic soldier until they correctly gendered him.
Born in 1889, Robles’ life was defined by the bloody conflict of the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s.
He joined the army in 1911 and was sent to the Gulf of Mexico to obtain money from oil companies for revolution efforts. Two years later, aged 24, he began to identify as a man and demanded to be treated as such.
Historical accounts detail Robles’s lengths to combat transphobia, including threatening those who called him Doña or madam with a pistol.
Robles was eventually promoted to colonel, commanding 315 men during the Agua Prieta Revolt. He donned the nickname “el coronel Robles,” and was described as a capable military leader. He died aged 95 on 8 December 1984.
SOPHIE
SOPHIE performs at Mojave Tent during the 2019 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival. (Getty)
Sophie Xeon, better known as SOPHIE, is one of the most significant trans musicians of all time and well-known for defining the hyperpop genre.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland on 17 September 1986, she became obsessed with music at a young age after her dad played electronic music in the car.
Her music became incredibly influential and is one of the foundations of hyperpop. Her song “Immaterial” has been listened to over 22 million times on Spotify.
She died on 30 January 2021 after falling from a cliff while trying to take a picture of the moon. Artists including Charli XCX, Sam Smith, and Rihanna expressed their condolences.
Not a huge amount is known about Jens Andersson, but what is known is that of a life defined by transphobia and a lack of understanding about non-binary people.
Born in the 1760s, Andersson began presenting as male when he moved to Strømsø, Norway in 1778.
After getting married, his wife later privately told a minister she thought her “husband might be a woman” and as such, Andersson was accused of sodomy.
During the trial, when asked about his gender, an associate answered: “He believes he may be both.”
After awaiting punishment “by fire and flames,” Andersson somehow escaped prison before a verdict was reached, the rest of his life is a complete mystery.
Blake Brockington
A photo of Blake Brockington before his death in 2015. (Twitter)
Trans male high school student Blake Brockington gained popularity after being the first trans high school homecoming king in North Carolina.
After coming out while in tenth grade, Brockington struggled with his parent’s disapproval, eventually joining a foster family.
In 2014, he collected $2,555 during a charity drive at his school in East Mecklenburg and became the first openly trans high school homecoming king.
He his platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ youth issues and spoke during a Trans Day of Remembrance service at Charlotte Independence Square.
Brockington took his own life at just 18 years old in March 2015. He was laid to rest in South Carolina.
Sylvia Rivera
LGBTQ+ activism just wouldn’t be the same without Sylvie Rivera, a trans woman born in 1951 who was involved with the Gay Liberation Front along with icon Marsha P Johnson and fellow activists.
Born in New York City, she was abandoned by her father as a child, living on the streets in 1962 before being taken in by a local community of drag queens.
While she did not attend the Stonewall riots, Rivera still spent much of her life advocating for the rights of LGBTQ+ people in and around New York, including after Johnson’s death.
She died in 2002 due to complications with liver cancer. After her death, her activism was celebrated with a street sign in her name.
Rusty Mae Moore
Rusty Mae Moore was a trans rights activist who ran a de facto homeless shelter in the late 1990s and early 2000s known as the Trans House.
A trans woman herself, Moore ensured that trans people in New York were taken care of and protected.
She was described as a “second mother” to patrons of Transy House, with resident Antonia Cambareri saying: “She paved the way, recording our culture, allowing us to survive.”
Moore died in February 2022 in Pine-Hill, New York home at 80 years old.
Thomas Baty
One of the only images of Thomas Baty available today. (Bains News Source)
English scholar Thomas Baty, also known as Irene Clyde, was a gender binary-crushing visionary who defined his life around a rejection of societal gender norms.
Modern writers have described Baty as non-binary, though it is unclear if he identified with the term.
Baty published several books under the name Irene Clyde, most of which were feminism-based critiques of the gender binary in the form of essays or science fiction. Most notable was his book Beatrice the Sixteenth – a utopian novel set in a postgender society.
He died aged 86 in 1954 in Ichinomiya, Chiba, Japan.
Anderson Bigode Herzer
Trans man Anderson Bigode Herzer was a profound trans writer from Brazil whose experiences were used to create the film Vera by Sérgio Toledo.
Born in 1962, much of Herzer’s life was noted in a book titled A queda para o alto or Descending Upwards. He was institutionalised at 14 years old in a youth state detention centre until 17, when politician Eduardo Suplicy hired him as an intern.
Herzer struggled with mental health issues and trauma due to his detainment, taking his own life at just 20 years old.
Angie Xtravaganza talks during a clip of the documentary Paris is Burning. (Paris is Burning)
If you’ve watched the emotionally heavy documentary Paris is Burning, then Angie Xtravaganza needs no introduction. The trans performer was prominent in New York’s gay ball culture.
Xtravaganza was born in the South Bronx in 1964 where she was raised in a Catholic house of 13 children.
She started doing drag in 1980 and performed at balls at just 16. Her performances became well-known enough that she established the House of Xtravaganza in 1982.
She was diagnosed with AIDs in 1991 and died two years later at the age of 28.
Want to be part of ending new HIV transmissions this decade? Here’s what you need to know.
Over the last decade, the fight against HIV has been transformed by medical breakthroughs.
England is on track to end new transmissions by 2030, with the HIV prevention medication PrEP, alongside more traditional methods of prevention (HIV testing, condoms, and U=U), proving to “accelerate the downtrend in new HIV infections in recent years”, according to Robbie Currie, lead commissioner of London’s HIV prevention program branded: Do It London.
Jo, 27, from Hackney, has been taking the once-daily pill for two years. It works by preventing the HIV virus from replicating in the body.
“PrEP has totally changed my relationship towards sex,” they say. “Before, sex was always tinged with a slight uncertainty and fear in the aftermath, but since I’ve been taking it, I’ve been able to let go.”
People can enjoy great sex while protecting themselves from HIV. (Stock image via Getty)
PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is one of four proven methods which, when combined, can stop the spread of HIV. The other three are using condoms, regular HIV testing, and treatment upon diagnosis of HIV to achieve an “undetectable” status.
If people who have HIV have been taking effective HIV treatment and their viral load has been undetectable for 6 months or more, it means they cannot pass the virus on through sex. This is called undetectable=untransmittable (U=U).
Across London, people are combining these four methods to have great, safe sex while helping to stop the spread of HIV.
Benjamin, 32, from Bermondsey, has just become a PrEP user in the last month. Beforehand, he visited his local sexual health clinic every three months to get tested for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and he’ll continue to do so now.
PrEP is a daily pill that protects from HIV. (Getty)
“Before I used PrEP, I was pretty diligent about using condoms and getting tested,” he says. “PrEP doesn’t protect against all STIs, so I’ve still been using condoms most of the time and I’m still going to get tested every three months.” (Taking regular HIV tests is a requirement for PrEP).
Phil, 34, from Haringey, was diagnosed with HIV in 2018. He takes one pill every day and is “undetectable”, so he can’t pass the virus on to any sexual partners.
“One thing I was so happy to learn is that if you’re diagnosed with HIV, like me, and you get access to treatment early, then you can live a long life,” he says. “And you can still feel good about yourself and have great sex.”
HIV myths busted
Thanks to PrEP, improved access to testing and other medical advancements, London and England as a whole are on track to end new HIV transmissions by 2030 – something which would have once seemed inconceivable.
But there are still challenges ahead to reach the goal. Currie says that misconceptions around HIV are still an issue and HIV related stigma is still present.
“People aren’t aware of how much treatment and prevention options have advanced,” he says. “And one of the biggest misconceptions is that someone with HIV can still pass it on if they are on effective treatment, which we know isn’t true.”
People with HIV can live long, healthy, happy lives on effective treatment. (Stock image via Getty)
Another misconception, Currie says, is that people on HIV treatment have drastically different health outcomes in later life.
“If you have HIV and receive treatment early, there is no reason why you won’t have a normal lifespan,” he says.
Something else people aren’t always aware of is that, if you have unprotected sex and you aren’t on PrEP, there is medication that can be taken for 72 hours afterwards.
PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) is a short course of HIV medicines taken very soon after a possible exposure to the virus, to prevent it from taking hold in your body.
The best place to get PEP is a sexual health or HIV clinic, but if you need PEP over the weekend or outside of office hours, when clinics will often be closed, it’s available at accident and emergency departments.
Condoms are one of the four proven methods of preventing HIV. (Getty)
In an ideal world, PrEP and condoms would prevent such a situation from arising. But sex doesn’t always pan out that way. “Now that we have PrEP, what we’re trying to do is shift the dial a bit,” Currie explains. “So if you’re at a period in your life where you may be more exposed to HIV, then we really want you to be on PrEP.”
The good news is that we now have the tools to eliminate HIV, because there are prevention and treatment medications that are effective.
“Our latest Do It London campaign called ‘Be sure, know the four’ seeks to raise the awareness and uptake of the methods of HIV prevention to those most at risk.” Currie says. “The campaign is funded by all of London’s local authorities who remain committed to ending new HIV diagnoses by 2030.”
Same-sex married couples handle stress better than different-sex spouses do, according to a new study.
The study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships by researchers at the University of Texas Austin, found that while stress is common in all kinds of marriages, same-sex couples are able to deal with it better together.
By analysing survey responses of 419 couples on dyadic coping – coping as a couple – in both same-sex and different-sex marriages, researchers revealed that same-sex spouses were able to be more positive and collaborative in handling stress compared to their counterparts.
Same-sex married couples handle stress better than different-sex spouses do, according to a new study.
The study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships by researchers at the University of Texas Austin, found that while stress is common in all kinds of marriages, same-sex couples are able to deal with it better together.
By analysing survey responses of 419 couples on dyadic coping – coping as a couple – in both same-sex and different-sex marriages, researchers revealed that same-sex spouses were able to be more positive and collaborative in handling stress compared to their counterparts.
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The differences, researchers said, stem from links between gender and coping strategies.
For example, women married to men said that their spouses were more ambivalent and hostile in responding to stress compared to women married to women.
According to study author Yiwen Wang: “This research shows that while there are some gender differences in dyadic coping efforts, the effects of supportive and collaborative dyadic coping as well as of negative dyadic coping on marital quality are the same for all couples.
“Our findings also emphasise the importance of coping as a couple for marital quality across different relationship contexts, which can be an avenue through which couples work together to strengthen relationship wellbeing.”
The study’s authors believe that because the stress was handled better by both male and female same-sex couples, the key to their dyadic coping is their ability to work together to deal with stress, using their similarities in stress responses and their shared gender-related experiences.
Debra Umberson, Wang’s co-author, said that coping with stress collaboratively may even be more important for same-sex couples, who are less likely to have familial and institutional support compared to straight couples.
“Including same-sex spouses and looking at how they work with each other to manage stress as compared to different-sex spouses can help us better understand the ways in which gender dynamics unfold in marriages,” she said.
“Same-sex couples face unique stressors related to discrimination and stigma. Coping as a couple may be especially important for them as they do not receive as much support from extended family, friends or institutions as different-sex couples do.”
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LGBTQ+ Liberal Democrats are quitting the party after senior officials revised a transphobia statement to protect “gender critical” views.
There was outcry among LGBTQ+ Liberal Democrats and allies when the party’s revised “formal definition” of transphobia leaked online.
Days later, the party formally published its new statement during Trans Awareness Week. On their website, the Liberal Democrats say the definition was revised in light of “recent legal cases” which have brought “greater clarity to the interpretation of the law in this area”.
The new definition says the party rejects “all prejudice and discrimination based upon race, ethnicity, caste, heritage, class, religion or belief, age, disability, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation”.
While the statement says disciplinary action “may be taken against members who exhibit transphobic behaviour”, it also states: “Holding and expressing gender critical views, whether in internal debates or publicly, is protected by law”.
Members of LGBT+ Lib Dems, the party’s LGBTQ+ group, have told PinkNews that they’ve been left “upset” by the new definition.
PinkNews understands that some party members have quit the Lib Dems entirely over the new transphobia definition.
Liberal Democrats have ‘lost numbers’ over transphobia statement
Charley Hasted, vice chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems, told PinkNews that their group knew the definition was being revised and that they were consulted on it in advance – but their recommendations were ultimately not taken into account.
According to Hasted, LGBT+ Lib Dems advised the party to seek further legal advice and to consider precedents set in two cases which were decided upon by the European Court of Human Rights.
However, the party appears to have ignored their advice, Hasted says.
“We’ve lost numbers, and frankly, we have more members threatening to go over this,” Hasted says, adding that they personally know “at least three” who have quit citing the new transphobia definition as the reason.
A supporter wears a Liberal Democrats rosette. (DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty)
“I think anything from the party that doesn’t include a commitment to get the [legal] advice that LGBT+ Lib Dems specifically said they should be getting is going to lead to more people leaving.”
Hasted is particularly frustrated by the new definition – and the way it was released – because it came shortly after trans and non-binary party members had a meeting with Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey, where they talked about how they party could better support trans people.
“It’s this disconnect that keeps happening,” Hasted says. The whole affair has made the party “look awful”, they say.
It’s mainly one person. I’m not going to say who it is, but it’s one person who throws his weight around a lot.
“That’s not who we want to be in the party in the main. We’ve got a few people who are a problem and they are creating a problem, and it didn’t need to happen.
“We know that at least one of those members tried to push for the definition to go even harder than it did.”
In the end, they think the party tried to strike a “middle ground” between what LGBTQ+ members were saying and what “gender critical” campaigners wanted.
“It’s mainly one person. I’m not going to say who it is, but it’s one person who throws his weight around a lot.”
Much of the commentary on social media has focused on the decision to publish the revised definition during Trans Awareness Week, a decision Hasted describes as “shocking” and “appalling”.
They believe it was leaked deliberately in the lead up to Trans Awareness Week in a bid to “hurt trans people as much as they could”.
“The key point is this is being fought. There are thousands of Lib Dem members who are fighting this because we don’t agree with it,” Hasted says.
‘Pro-trans majority’
Gareth Lewis, chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems, still harbours hope the definition will be revised again in the short term.
“I don’t think anyone is very pleased about it including the people who voted to pass it. I think people felt it was something that had to be done,” he says.
Lewis says a new federal board and council have just been elected and that they will come into force in January – a move which could potentially pave the way for a further revision.
“There’s now a pro-trans rights majority on most wings whereas previously it was 50/50,” Lewis says.
“We’re having a lot of conversations with the party leadership involved in these sorts of things and I think there is a general feeling that this hasn’t gone well and that something needs to be done quite drastically to fix it,” they say.
Lewis believes the statement was revised in the first place because the party is too “risk averse”.
“I think that represents a big problem for our party,” they say, adding that the party is too inclined to “buckle” too quickly on issues it should stand firm on.
It’s not just grassroots members who have been left disappointed by the revised definition – some of the party’s most senior figures have also expressed their dissatisfaction.
Nobody deserves to be the victim of misogyny, homophobia, and in the same way nobody deserves to be misgendered or deadnamed.
Liberal Democrats MP Layla Moran urged the party to “listen” to LGBTQ+ people on the issue of transphobia.
“I share the disappointment of our trans siblings regarding the way the change in definition has transpired and urge the party as a whole to keep listening and trying to do better,” Moran told PinkNews.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran. (Dan Kitwood/Getty)
She continued: “The Liberal Democrats have a proud record of fighting for all LGBT+ rights. We believe in the safety, dignity and wellbeing of every individual.
“In parliament we are campaigning for a total ban on so-called conversion therapy, including protections for trans and intersex people, and for reform to the outdated Gender Recognition Act.
“We will always fight for every person to feel not just accepted but celebrated and supported by society to lead fulfilled, productive lives – whatever that means for them.”
Cleo Madeleine, communication officer at Gendered Intelligence, said the fiasco shows the extent to which “the divisiveness of the culture war” has infiltrated politics.
“It’s not about saying, you have to believe a certain thing to be a member of a political party – it’s about saying, everyone has a right to participate in politics on an even footing,” Madeleine says.
“Nobody deserves to be the victim of misogyny, homophobia, and in the same way nobody deserves to be misgendered or deadnamed.
“We really hope that the Lib Dems, particularly with their chequered past on LGBT+ rights, stand firm on this.”
When contacted by PinkNews, a spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats said: “Following two legal cases that established new precedents, the party commissioned legal advice which was put to the federal board – the most senior elected governing body in the party.
“The Board voted in favour of the published definition of transphobia which was the strongest option available consistent with that legal advice. We will continue to support trans people within our party, through our policies about gender recognition which are clear, and through our independent complaints system which has zero tolerance for transphobic cases of bullying and harassment.”
Developing your first crush as a teenager should be an exciting experience, but for Beverly, it was terrifying.
The problem was that the person she harboured feelings for was a girl. Growing up in Zimbabwe, Beverly knew same-sex relationships were not accepted.
Like so many before her, Beverly tried to convince herself that it was just a phase, but a couple of relationships with men between the ages of 19 and 21 left her with no doubt that she was a lesbian.
That realisation was a painful one for Beverly. Homosexuality is criminalised in Zimbabwe, and public attitudes to queer people are unkind. She knew she could face violence, persecution and discrimination for being openly gay.
In the end, she made the painful decision to pack up her things and flee to South Africa in search of safety. Her journey since then has been at times rocky, but it’s also been life-affirming – and it’s allowed her to live as her authentic self.
Beverly’s story is just one that PinkNews is sharing this holiday season as part of the LGBTQ+ Refugees Welcome campaign.
Over the festive period, PinkNews is sharing stories of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees from all across the world. Some have found safety, while others are still grappling with harsh asylum systems that are designed to keep refugees out.
LGBTQ+ people have to ‘live a lie’ in Zimbabwe
Beverly had to flee her home country because she could see just how bad things were for LGBTQ+ people there.
She recalls how she forced herself into relationships with men from the age of 19 in a desperate bid to live the traditional life society expected of her.
After just two years of dating men, Beverly found herself a single mother of two children – and she was becoming increasingly aware that her sexuality was not a phase, as she once hoped it was.
Being openly LGBTQ+ in Zimbabwe is “very, very hard”, Beverly says.
Members of the South African Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community chant slogans as they take part in the annual Gay Pride Parade. (RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty)
“You have to live a lie. When I was dating this woman in Zimbabwe, we had to go around and say we were sisters or we were friends. You can never come out in Zimbabwe.
“The LGBTQ+ community in Zimbabwe, they have to hide. The moment they find out you are part of the community you are over and done with. I had a cousin of mine, she came out as a lesbian and she was sentenced to jail.”
In 2007, Beverly went to South Africa with her daughter and she gradually worked up the courage to come out.
Some of them thought it’s satanic, it’s demonic, that there’s something wrong with me.
“The first person that I came out to was actually my daughter. She was 14-years-old, she saw me hanging out with this woman. I kind of explained to her that she’s not my friend, we are actually dating.
“She quickly embraced me and she was like, mum, as long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”
Everything “fell into place” once her daughter had accepted her as a lesbian, although Beverly did lose some friends when they found out about her sexuality.
“Some of them thought it’s satanic, it’s demonic, that there’s something wrong with me. So I just ended up saying, as long as my family’s OK with me being a lesbian, that’s all that really matters at the end of the day.”
Life was good for Beverly until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which resulted in her losing her job in hospitality.
It was a turbulent time, but it led Beverly to get involved with the Dream Academy, an initiative which offers classes to those who need them.
After taking classes herself through the Dream Academy, Beverly was given the chance to run her own class on parenting.
“It has been nothing short of amazing,” she says.
South African human rights activists protest protest against homosexuals imprisoned in Malawi. (Nardus Engelbrecht/Gallo Images/Getty)
Those classes also inspired Beverly to rebuild her relationship with her son, who was raised in Zimbabwe by her sister.
“When I came out, he started rebelling, he would do graffiti in his room, he would spray paint ‘no lesbians in this house’.”
Beverly travelled back to Zimbabwe to meet her son face to face so she could talk to him about his sexuality. The trip was a success – they are now closer than ever.
Beverly’s refugee status was revoked
While Beverly has built a life for herself in South Africa, where she now lives with her partner, she still doesn’t have permanent residency.
When she first arrived in the country, she claimed asylum – but her refugee status was ultimately withdrawn when she briefly travelled home to Zimbabwe to visit a sick family member.
I’ve got friends and family back home who have to live a lie, basically, they just can’t come out.
When she speaks to PinkNews, Beverly only has a guarantee that she can remain in South Africa for a couple more months. She is hoping she will be able to get an extension.
“It’s not a day anytime soon that the LGBTQ+ community is going to be accepted in Zimbabwe, that much I know,” Beverly says.
“I’ve got friends and family back home who have to live a lie, basically, they just can’t come out.
“But for me I am out and proud on my social media – everyone knows – so for me to go back to Zimbabwe into hiding would roll back everything.”
It’s because of people like Beverly that PinkNews launched the LGBTQ+ Refugees Welcome campaign. The initiative is raising funds for Micro Rainbow, a charity that provides safe housing for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum, and for OutRight Action International’s LGBTIQ Ukraine Emergency Fund, which distributes money to activists on the ground in Ukraine.
This holiday season, PinkNews is sharing the personal stories of refugees and people seeking asylum. The series will put a spotlight on the painful realities LGBTQ+ people across the world face that force them to leave their homes, from familial violence to anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
But that’s not all – the series will also show how a person’s life can change radically when they’re granted asylum. When they can get to safety, LGBTQ+ people have the chance to thrive.
PinkNews wants to show how living without the threat of violence or persecution can help queer people build beautiful, kaleidoscopic lives – but they can only do so if they’re given the proper support.
Please give what you can to the PinkNews LGBTQ Refugees Welcome campaign on GoFundMe. Through GiveOut, we will be directly donating to OutRight Action International’s LGBTIQ Ukraine Emergency Fund, helping the activists and organisations on the ground in Ukraine and surrounding countries to support the needs of LGBTQ+ people turning to them for life-saving help.
Our second beneficiary, Micro Rainbow, creates safe homes where LGBTQ+ asylum seekers from Ukraine, Afghanistan and beyond can be safe while they endure the UK’s gruelling asylum process.
Professional punching-down expert Dave Chappelle is set to get more Netflix specials despite accusations of being anti-trans.
The self-proclaimed “cancelled” comedian is once again set to join the world’s biggest streaming platform for a night sure to be filled with anti-trans comments, controversial statements and some jokes – if he can spare them.
in an interview with The New York Times, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the company would order Chappelle comedy specials “again and again” despite the backlash.
“We’re just trying to be the most exciting entertainment company and more,” Hastings said, seemingly confusing the words entertaining and controversial.
“That special was one of the most entertaining watch specials we’ve ever had.”
Netflix bought Chappelle’s highly controversial comedy special The Closer for $24.1 million, releasing it to the platform in 2021.
In response to the show – which saw Chappelle make cutting-edge and topical Clifford the Big Red Dog jokes with the same reverence as a nine-year-old recanting jokes from a 2006 Family Guy box set – Netflix employees protested his “transphobic” gig.
Multi-millionaire Dave Chappelle then went on a campaign of crying that his special, which was watched for a collective 339 million minutes on a streaming platform with roughly 210 million paid subscribers, was all of a sudden “cancelled”.
It was so cancelled, in fact, that Chappelle – whose career must have been in tatters judging from how he was talking about his “cancellation” – only landed one single Netflix special.
But Chappelle was also called a “bigot” by a 16-year-old in a school – which planned to name a theatre after him – so, swings and roundabouts.
Dave Chappelle has routinely butted heads with the LGBTQ+ community
His run-ins with the LGBTQ+ community didn’t start there. The comedian has routinely made the transgender community the butt of his jokes, while also using AIDS as an oral sting to cap off his already repugnant bits.
The self-proclaimed TERF said that the trans community “hate my f**king guts” during his 2019 special Sticks and Stones while making an “LGBTQ+ alphabet” joke that was already as sour as summer-day milk years before Chappelle decided to make it a supposed slam dunk in a multi-million dollar comedy set.
“No matter what you do in your artistic expression, you are never, ever, allowed to upset the alphabet people,” he said. “You know who I mean. Those people who took 20 per cent of the alphabet for themselves. I’m talking about them Ls and Bs and Gs and the Ts.”
He then went on to say that transitioning is a “f**king hilarious predicament” and, while many competent trans comedians have certainly shown that to be true, Chappelle apparently thinks it’s the often mentally-crushing dysphoria within a trans person that’s just too funny.
He represented this perceived hilarity by doing a racist impression of a Chinese person and declaring that’s “how I feel inside”, because if a modern Chappelle joke doesn’t end in shock value, then it’s just a very rich, very powerful comedian making fun of a routinely discriminated, murdered, and vilified group with an extremely high suicide rate for an hour or two.
Anti-LGBTSQ+ slurs have skyrocketed on Twitter, despite Elon Musk’s claims to the contrary, a new study has found.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), along with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other groups, found that anti-LGBTQ+ remarks have risen by at least 1,458 times a day.
Additionally, offensive comments against Black people had risen to 3,876 times a day, according to reports from The New York Times.
“Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist, and homophobe that Twitter was open for business,” CCDH chief executive Imran Ahmed said.
Despite this, Musk claimed that hate speech impressions were “down by a third from pre-spike levels” in a 24 November tweet showcasing a graph from a Twitter presentation.
However, aside from failing to report specific underlying numbers, many criticised Musk’s interpretations of the figures, with one asking how Musk is defining hate speech.
“The transphobia in my mentions is the worst it’s ever been,” one user said. “I guess that’s fine though, since you don’t consider that hate speech anymore.”
Another wrote: “Yeah, hate speech will go down when you stop considering hate speech to be hate speech.”
The Anti-Defamation League urged Musk to “dedicate resources” to policies that attempt to mitigate hate speech on the site, especially after the mass layoffs that the company experienced.
“His actions to date show that he is not committed to a transparent process where he incorporates the best practices we have learned from civil society groups,” ADL vice president Yael Eisenstat said.
“Instead, he has emboldened racists, homophobes, and antisemites.”
But things quickly became dire after Musk brought back several individuals who had been previously banned for posting hateful speech, including former president Donald Trump.
The influx of problematic content, along with the debacle surrounding Musk’s proposed Twitter verification model which caused abrupt chaos on the site before being shut down, prompted advertisers to reduce their spending on the platform.
This caused Twitter spokespeople to reassure advertisers in a Wednesday (30 November) statement reading: “Brand safety is only possible when human safety is the top priority.”
