CELEBRATING QUEER CULTURE

Statement on proposed amendments to Equality Act 

Pride Progress flag with 6 stripes and black and brown stripes and trans equality flag, on pink background

Andro and Eve work year round to serve the LGBTQ+ community, working towards queer liberation.

This week, in Pride Month, the Conservative Party announced a pledge that if elected, the Equality Act 2010 would be amended to change ‘sex’ to refer to ‘biological sex’. We will call this announcement what it is, transphobic, discriminatory and dangerous.

The Equality Act 2010 is an excellent piece of legislation that has been effective for 14 years, ensuring the protection of many different people with a variety of protected characteristics (including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation). 

In its current guise, trans people can legally access single-sex services based on their gender. Services can also legally exclude trans people, whether or not they hold a Gender Recognition Certificate, if it is deemed ‘proportionate so as to achieve a legitimate aim’.  

Amendment of the Equality Act is not necessary. Attempts to alter the definition of ‘sex’ reflect a concerning trend towards the rejection of gender identity in favour of strictly biologically defined notions of sex which are both highly essentialist and racialised (Pearce et al., 2020). 

This is regressive and threatens the hard won gains for women’s rights and liberation of the early Feminist movement. It is also part of a growing resistance to sexual and gender rights in the UK (Nash et al., 2021) and is part of an increasingly prominent anti-gender politics (Tudor, 2021). This is further evidenced last month when The Conservative party announced a prohibition of the teaching of gender in schools. This threatens the rights of all citizens.

The intensifying academic, political, and public focus on ‘gender ideology’ and sex-based rights has a significant bearing not only upon the everyday existence of the people most affected – namely trans and gender diverse people, but also on the provision of key services and places of safety for people experiencing gender-based violence (GBV). This includes diverting vital resources and disrupting service delivery for all victim-survivors. 

Political debates centred on gendered spaces incorporate questions regarding trans women victim-survivors’ access to, or eligibility for services such as domestic abuse refuge or rape crisis and their right to live safely. In this, trans women are wrongly constructed as ‘predatory’ and their access to support a threat to (white) cisgender women’s safety (Phipps, 2020). This is despite mounting empirical evidence to strongly counter this false and dangerous claim (see for example, Pain et al., 2021; Stonewall & nfpSynergy, 2018). 

The voices of victim-survivors are woefully absent in this discussion, particularly those of trans and gender diverse people and those who are racially minoritised. These peoples’ views are vital, and their lived experiences of, and safety from, GBV, including domestic and sexual violence, a significant and urgent issue.

Violence against women and girls (including many LGBTQ+ women) is a huge concern that should continue to be challenged. Long term investment is needed to tackle this violence and misogyny. However, it is not necessary to re-define sex in the Equality Act in order for the provision of a range of services supporting diverse needs. Services have been delivering support and intervention to trans and gender diverse victim-survivors for decades without issue or incident. 

In our Gender Awareness Training we talk about transphobia being a set of actions or discourse that end up denying trans people the possibility of living freely, openly and safely in society. This proposed change in legislation would mean trans and gender diverse people could not access many of the services and public spaces that enable their full, safe and meaningful participation in public life. For victim-survivors of violence and abuse, it could also mean a risk to life. 

The Conservatives have had 14 years to address areas in the Equality Act 2010 that they now deem to be problematic, but have chosen not to do so. Now, in the run up to a General Election, the party has chosen to announce this proposal. The fact that it coincides with Pride Month in the UK, demonstrates just how far the fight for equality for all LGBTQ+ people still has to go. We and many others will continue that fight. Gender essentialism and trans exclusion has no place in a modern society and every person has a right to live safely and freely. 

This Pride Month, with a general election on the horizon, we’d encourage you to use your voice, get informed and vote wisely in support of LGBTQ+ rights. Above all, continue to be there for one another through the continued weaponisation of LGBTQ+ identities. 

If you’d like to learn more about developing more gender diverse and transgender inclusive practices within your organisation, please feel free to get in touch about our Gender Awareness Training.

Our response to the Government Draft Guidance for Schools

Transgender Equality flag in blue, pink white on mint background

This is our response to the non-statutory draft guidance for schools & colleges in England and Wales regarding gender-questioning children and young people that was released on 19 December 2023 with a consultation open until 12 March 2024.

We sent our own response as an organisation to that consultation back in March and are sharing our response publicly now to record our opposition to it in its entirety. 

Andro and Eve have been working with the LGBTQ+ community for the last eight years, with LGBTQ+ young people the last 3 years, and we know first hand the impact on trans and gender expansive people when their right to exist is called into question. We are also leading facilitators of Gender Awareness Training, delivering our training to organisations throughout the UK since 2021. Our training enables teams to better serve and meet the needs of clients and customers of all genders, particularly those who fall under the Transgender umbrella. It is continually developed in response to the latest research and is grounded in lived experience and informed by sector best practice principles.

Every child and young person should be safe and respected in school or college and their best interests met in an environment that celebrates learning, inclusivity and diversity. The UK government’s draft guidance for schools in England does not respect or serve the interests of trans and gender-expansive children and young people and is at odds with existing children’s rights and equalities legislation in the UK, including both the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998. The Equality Act and the protected characteristic of gender reassignment applies at any age. 

This guidance harmfully promotes and justifies the active exclusion of trans and gender-expansive children and young people, rather than seeking to support a cohort of young people whom we know already experience elevated risks of harm and bullying in educational settings. (Estyn, 2020, Hudson-Sharp & Metcalf, 2016, Jadva et al, 2023). 

Evidence indicates that 64% of trans young people had been bullied at school (Stonewall, 2017) and there has been an 186% increase in reported transphobic hate crimes in the last 5 years (ONS, 2023). While guidance asserts that bullying should never be tolerated in our schools and colleges, there is a concerning lack of measures to protect, include or advocate for trans and gender-expansive children and young people.

Teachers are often a vital resource for trans children and young people who do not feel safe at home. This guidance not only risks damaging the relationship between young people and teachers by creating additional barriers to disclosure or help-seeking, but could also mean trans and gender-expansive children and young people no longer feel safe at school or college. The risk of harm posed to young people if their parents are informed without their consent is deemed ‘exceptionally rare’ in the guidance. This does not cohere with findings from recent studies which document the lived experiences of trans young people (Just Like Us, 2023, McDermott et al., 2017), including research conducted by this government (Government Equalities Office, 2018).

That children and young people are questioning their gender identity is framed in this guidance as a product of ‘gender ideology’. This language departs from that which is used elsewhere in dominant UK political discourse and legislation, the UK Census, and the NHS, and is unacceptably inflammatory.  

The guidance is written through an unduly narrow ideological lens and perpetuates false narratives concerning sex and gender that have no basis in evidence. This only serves to deepen divides and stigmatise trans children and young people further. Crucially, the guidance inflames what is already an incredibly dangerous ‘culture war’, as it calls into question trans children and young people’s right to exist. This does nothing to mitigate the elevated risks of harm faced by vulnerable transgender young people and goes against the statutory duties of schools to safeguard all young people. The lives of trans and gender-expansive children and young should never be up for debate. 

We join with many other LGBT+ organisations, youth organisations and schools in urging the government to reconsider the position taken in this guidance and instead to view this as a vital opportunity to implement clear guidance that creates genuine inclusivity and safety for all children and young people, including by listening to children and young people themselves.

References: 

Estyn, 2020, Celebrating diversity and promoting inclusion: Good practice in supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) learners in schools and colleges

Hudson-Sharp, Nathan and Metcalf, Hilary, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (commissioned by the Governement’s Equalities Office), 2016, Inequality among lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender groups in the UK: a review of evidence. 

Jadva, J, Guasp, A, Bradlow, JH, Bower-Brown, S, Foley, S, 2023, Predictors of self-harm and suicide in LGBT youth: The role of gender, socio-economic status, bullying and school experience, Journal of Public Health, Volume 45, Issue 1, Pages 102–108.

Government Equalities Office, 2018, National LGBT Survey.

Just Like Us, 2023, Positive Futures: How supporting LGBT+ young people enables them to thrive in adulthood.

McDermott, Elizabeth, Hughes, Elizabeth, Rawlings, Victoria, 2018, The social determinants of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth suicidality in England: a mixed methods study, Journal of Public Health, Volume 40, Issue 3, pages e244–e251.

    Bookable Gender Awareness Training

    Gender Awareness Training

    We’re pleased to announce a new date for our Gender Awareness Training. Booking is now open for 15 March 10am – 1pm. This online session is aimed at freelancers, individuals and organisations where less than 6 people would like to undertake this training. 

    This 3 hour Gender Awareness Training session is designed to pass on knowledge and best practice enabling you to better serve and meet the needs of clients and customers of all genders, particularly those who fall under the Transgender umbrella.

    We cover topics including, language, intersectionality, non binary identities, allyship gender in a global context, feminism, LGBTQ+ herstory and transgender health and equality and the law.

    Learning Outcomes – You will;

    • Feel more confident in your knowledge of the experiences of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ+).
    • Understand what gender inclusive language is and when to use it. 
    • Learn about LGBTQ+ histories, rights and current legislation and understand what this might mean for trans and non-binary people living in the UK today. 
    • Explore practical steps to help build gender inclusive practices and spaces, including by being an ‘ally’ to trans, non-binary and gender minoritised people.

    As one past participant said;

    ‘This training was empowering and motivating, and I felt that the trainer created a really safe space for respectful and open discussion’.

    Each participant will take away a resource pack with content covered in the session along with further advice and reading. Places are limited, and priced on a sliding scale. Book via Eventbrite now!

    Access Information – We will take two breaks during this session and each participant receives information on session structure in advance. Closed Captions will be provided via zoom and the training is supported with slides with text and images. 

    Not Safe to be Me

    a pink tile with white writing states ‘It’s not a ban if it has exemptions’ Ban Conversion Therapy.

    As a member of LGBT+ Consortium we wholeheartedly support their stance and the position of Stonewall to boycott the ‘Safe to be Me’ conference in response to the Government’s U turns on the banning of conversion therapy here in the UK. Read their full statement here.

    A quick recap in case this is news – the Government said they would ban conversion therapy for LGBT+ people. Then last week they said they would not. Then they decided they would, but not for transgender and non binary people. Appalling. 

    The ‘Safe to Be Me’ conference was to be the UK’s first global LGBT+ conference bringing together organisations and governments from across the world seeking to advance the rights of LGBTQ+ people. You can read more about it here.

    LGBT Consortium have had over 125 LGBTQ+ and ally organisations send their support for the withdrawal from this conference until the UK Government includes transgender people in the ban on conversion therapy. This includes Andro & Eve.

    Allies – what can you do? Write to your MP urgently! Ask them to put pressure on the government to reverse this decision and give trans people the same protections as LGB people. The link above will take you to Stonewall’s website where you’ll find a template. Trans rights are under attack here in 2022. Trans and non binary people need your active support now.

    We stand with our trans and gender expansive siblings and all those who oppose this injustice. With love, Andro and Eve x

    New! Gender Awareness Training

    A white androgynous person sits on a chair in a circle of people. They are speaking and being listened to.

    Today marks the start of LGBT History Month. We are so thankful to members of LGBTQ+ community who have gone before, paving the way for our rights and increasing the visibility of, and acceptance of our community. We know there is so much still to be done, in the UK and around the world.

    Here in the UK, over the last few years, a hostile environment has been created for trans, non binary and gender non conforming people. In 2020 we spent time developing a Gender Awareness Training session, aimed at staff teams in organisations, public services and businesses.

    Our Gender Awareness Training is designed to pass on knowledge and best practice, enabling organisations to better serve and meet the needs of clients, customers and service users of all genders, particularly those who fall under the Transgender* umbrella.

    Drawing upon our extensive experience in meeting the needs of the LGBTQIA community in creating safe and inclusive events, this 2 hour, online session can be tailored to your organisation’s needs. Interested? We currently have a special introductory offer for organisations able to book a session before 30 April 2021. Please get in touch or share this post if you think your organisation could benefit from our Gender Awareness Training. You can also find out more here.

    .*Transgender is an umbrella term for people who do not identify or feel comfortable with what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.

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