I have always intended for this blog to not be how difficult it is to be a transgender person in 2019, but every now and again I need to write about this issue and this is the 4th time I have felt the need to write on this issue. You can see the previous blogs about it if you follow the links below: –
https://bexmercer.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-being-trans-part-3/
https://bexmercer.wordpress.com/2018/04/30/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-being-trans-part-2/
https://bexmercer.wordpress.com/2018/01/06/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-being-trans/
the fact that I haven felt the need to write on this issue for over a year is a positive thing but it doesn’t mean that there haven’t been any hate incidents happen to me, its just that they haven’t affected me enough to write a blog about it, but after some incidents that happened in the last week I feel compelled to write.
The first of these incidents happened a local pride event, I overheard a conversation that was being had by two older gay men. I am assuming the were gay as they were holding hands and covered in glitter and rainbows, they were also at a pride event so I don’t think I am assuming too much by saying that they are gay. Their conversation went like this man number 1 said “being trans is just a fetish” man number 2 replied with “yer they don’t need surgery they need therapy”. To say I was gobsmacked would be an understatement, to see two people who were at a pride event which celebrates diversity to come out with a statement like that beggars belief. It just shows that there is still a lot of work to do in the lgbtq+ community for trans equality. Also the two men in question looked like they were old enough to remember when homosexuality was illegal. I would have thought they would be receptive to the trans plight, also a lot of gay men I think have forgotten that the whole pride movement was started by trans women rioting at the stonewall inn in 1969
I can’t understand it when one minority persecutes another minority. I have met racist trans people and it mystifies me that these people just don’t understand that all forms of hate come from the same place. Homophobia, transphobia and racism, are all the same thing. They are all hate of difference and hating people for what they are. Transgender people face a lot of hate in the real world and going to pride events should be free of that hate, and to see bigotry at pride event is disappointing. Although this was an isolated incident and I enjoyed the day on the support groups stand and spoke to a lot of people who seemed interested in learning more about what it is like to been transgender, so over the whole day the good massively outweighed the bad.
When I got back to Plymouth, I bumped in to a member of the support group, who told me they had been physically attacked in the street because they are trans. This really angered me. I don’t understand why people think its ok to attack some who is trans. The person who was attacked showed me pictures of there injures and they were awful. I thought we had as a society moved beyond this sort of thing. Every one deserves to feel safe when they leaving the house and even in 2019 there are a lot of trans people that don’t.
Its one of the things I try to promote with the work I do with the support group. I don’t want trans people to hide away in their houses scared to go out. I went on the local tv news to say that. But incidents like the one I described here undo all the work myself and other people do, and trans people then hide away again. Its why I encourage anyone to report hate incidents because the more that are reported the more it shows that these incidents won’t be tolerated.
Making people at the group feel safe is a big deal to me, but this work was nearly undone by a group of teenagers outside the group meeting last night. They were basically intimating people as they were turning up at group, and a couple of our members were visibly shaking when they reached the safety of the door in to group. Again I don’t understand why those lads think their behaviour was acceptable, the good news is I have reported it to the police and they seem to be very proactive in trying to sort the situation out.
As a group we have a good relationship with the police and they are really supportive of our work to make Plymouth a better place for trans people. We are lucky in Plymouth to have a team of police dedicated to helping diverse communities report hate crime and getting the people who are committing the crimes to face justice. Unfortunately it is badly need as trans hate crime has gone up, and almost half of the trans population in the UK have experienced a hate crime in the last year. Although it is speculated that 4 out 5 trans hate crimes don’t get reported. So I would say that the number of trans people that have experienced hate crime in the last year is at least 90% if not higher. The stats I have used here all come from the latest stonewall report on hate crime and if you want to read the full report it is available on the link below
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/lgbt-britain-hate-crime-and-discrimination
We like to kid ourselves that we are living in a more enlightened time but there is still a long way to go before a trans person can walk down the street with out any fear. Things have got better and I think part of the increase in hate crimes is that trans people are coming forward to report these incidents. But I also think that hate crime in the UK has increased over the last few years, in part due to the way some of the media report trans issues. There are some media out lets that fuel the hate that trans people suffer and yet everyone turns a blind eye to it and groups like ours are left to pick up the fall out. I think until some one takes these media out lets to task hate crime will not decrease. There has been some advertisers that have cancelled their adverts with the media outlets, but this is a drop in the ocean. What I think needs to happen is everyone needs to stop using these media sources. That would then hit them where it hurts in their sales and then they might take notice and change how they report trans issues. Until that happens, I don’t think there will be a reduction in hate crime.
Be the storm and not caught up in it
Bex
Rebecca Mercer 