Trans rights: how to take back control and find hope in hard times
Trans rights has been a battleground for years - ever since the neo-fascist parties around Europe decided to lean into the media-generated panic around issues like bathrooms, Olympic boxing, what a woman really is, whether everyone deserves the same level of basic healthcare… it’s depressing.
It’s especially depressing when you know most of the people using their platforms to stoke up hatred against trans people are only doing it for the clout - they didn’t care or even think about who was taking a dump next to them until Piers Morgan or JK Rowling told them to think about it.
Until recently, a legitimate strategy was to pull back from social media, stop reading biased news stories, and go outside. The trouble is, transphobia has started creeping into the rooms where people can actually make a difference, rather than just being a media phenomenon.
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The Trump Administration has started purging the words “transgender” and “nonbinary”, along with others, from government websites and materials. They are reportedly refusing passports for trans people. The aim of this is to extend the treatment anti-immigration policies wreaked on migrants - creating an environment so hostile that, in this case, people either renounce their own transition, or are marginalised.
In case you’re reading this in Europe and you think it’s not going to affect us here, it’s worth pointing out that the far-right parties around Europe almost all support Trump, have been making positive noises towards Elon Musk, and are almost all anti-trans in their policy platforms. Musk, who has enthusiastically praised the German AfD party, will almost certainly make his support of the parties conditional on them adopting anti-trans policies.
What can we do?
If you’re trans and you’re concerned about the way politics and society are moving, this is the time to campaign for protections to be written into law, and for your workplace to adopt diversity protection. It’s not good enough for your bosses to say they love you and they value your energy - every workplace needs a diversity code of conduct written and available for all to see.
Write to your lawmakers and ask for them to raise protection in law of your rights. It’s far more difficult to roll back laws that have been passed, than it is to eliminate trans rights in a place where none are documented. With far-right parties gaining momentum in this parliamentary cycle across Europe, this may be your best chance to lobby for trans rights to your elected representatives.
Donate to a not-for-profit
There are lots of charitable organisations doing what they can to help trans people around the world, and they’re all in need of fresh donations. While this list is a great starting point, and this is a well-populated subreddit, one of my favourite charities, partly because they supported the Race For a Cause 24 simrace that Prismatic Motorsports organised last year (next round coming up!), is Rainbow Railroad. If you don’t know who they are, they provide support in getting LGBTQIA+ people out of places where they are in danger. This might be the difference between a trans person being under threat in a country where being trans is illegal, or that person being given a chance to start a new life somewhere.
Donate to a trans person
If you’re an ally, and you have a trans friend, let them know your support is available. They might not be open with their needs at first - nobody wants to ask for money, and we all find it awkward - but it might be that the money for top surgery, or even a morale-boosting vacation in a country with a great trans rights record, might make a world of difference.
Trans people are often at a structural disadvantage in the world of work, because they are often discouraged from applying for jobs, or are disregarded during the application process. This means often trans people don’t have the financial resources to do everything they’d like to. If you have money spare, ask them nicely if they need any help with anything. It’s the ultimate “act local, think local” act, and it might change someone’s life, or at least their day.
Support your local queer space
Queer spaces, whether they are the traditional LGBTQ nightclubs in your town or a more hybrid event space with a policy ensuring tolerance and safety for those inside, are always struggling unless your city has a large and prominent LGBTQ community. This is because they’re often on the wrong end of petty local authority legislation designed to make it hard for them to stay open, and they’re often having to field the most stupid and baseless complaints from people who just want to make life hard for them.
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Ultimately the only way you’ll ensure trans people have somewhere to go where they feel truly loved is to support queer spaces financially. Go there, pay the full entry fee, buy lots of drinks, and get to know nice people.
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