The latest Tory leadership election saw all of its candidates compete to see who could ‘out-transphobe’ one another, with trans people becoming a key target in the Tories’ reactionary social offensive to cling to power. The party’s onslaught on trans rights has now even entered a new phase.

For the first time since Scottish devolution in 1998, Westminster has taken the huge step of risking the union of the United Kingdom, by voting to block a gender reform law change which was passed democratically, by the Scottish Parliament, after a 6 year long consultation.

Apart from the 11 Labour Party MPs (including our patron Kate Osborne, and our member Nadia Whittome) who voted against it, the rest of the Labour Party instead sat by and abstained on the vote against this assault on democracy and trans rights. In fact Sir Keir Starmer and other top figures in the party have even spoken out and fully supported this attack. And now it is reported by Owen Jones that the Labour Party is now considdering even voting for the Tory’s bill to remove recognition of gender certificates from other countries. Stripping rights from migrant trans people living here in the UK.

 

This climate has coincided with a society which now according to a recent study conducted by Stonewall:

- Nearly 1/10 have received death threats at school.

- 1/4 of Trans people have been threatened with or experienced transphobic violence.

- 1/3 UK employers will not employ a trans person.

- More than 1/2 of Trans people have reported that their GP has told them that they don't know enough about Trans-related care to provide it.

- Some Trans people are being forced to wait up to nearly 4 years (193 weeks) to see an NHS specialist – more than 10 times the NHS legal guideline.

- More than 1/2 of Trans people have been diagnosed with depression at some point. More than - - 2/5 Trans people have been attacked or threatened with violence in the past 5 years.

- More than 1/2 of Trans adults have attempted suicide, with 84% having thought about it.

- For Trans youths, more than 1/4 of Trans youths have attempted suicide, with 89% having thought about it.

- And now trans children now legally have to go to court to get certain life-saving medications.

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Trans rights are of course is not just a UK issue of course: globally, 2022 seen:
- 327 trans and gender-diverse people were reported murdered.
- 95% of those murdered globally were trans women or trans feminine people.
- Of the cases with data on race and ethnicity, racialised trans people make up 65% of the reported murders.
- 36% of the trans people reported murdered in Europe were migrants.
- Cases from Estonia and Switzerland were reported for the very first time – all of those victims were migrant Black trans women.
- 68% of all the murders registered happened in Latin America and the Caribbean; 29% of the total happening in Brazil;
- Most of the victims who were murdered were between 31 and 40 years old.
- And more than half of murdered trans people were sex workers.
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These figures highlight why our struggle is not only a working class one, but an international one too, and that is why we are proud to work with and support organisations like BLM, Lesbians And Gays Support the Migrants, Polish Migrants Organise for Change and more. These figures also show why providing support for Black trans women, and for decriminalising and unionising sex work — which many trans women are forced to turn to when denied other forms of employment — is such an important part of addressing the underlying inequalities that leave trans women of colour vulnerable to violence.

That's also why we as socialists must demand proper comprehensive funding into health and social care, including properly funded domestic and sexual violence services, so that no one is turned away, and all survivors get their needs met in the short and long term. This must include universal trans healthcare which meets the needs of trans and non-binary people, as well as a healthcare system which is fit for purpose for women, and upholds reproductive rights. We also demand an education system which addresses misogyny and all kinds of oppression, and which provides comprehensive sex education which covers consent, abuse, is LGBTQ inclusive, and challenges notions of male ‘entitlement’ to sex.
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But we know of course, that we are not the only targets of these culture wars, it's always a coin toss weather those MPs, journalists, or hate groups wake up and either attack trans people, black people, travellers, muslims or refugees. It is through collective struggle, like the work of Lesbians And Gays Support The Miners, that change comes when we realise that we have so much more in common with one other as a class, than we ever will with the people of the same gender, race, sexuality or nationality as those in the ruling class oppressing us.

We only have what we know as 'Pride' today because of events such as the Stonewall uprising, and because sex workers, and activists of colour like Stormé DeLarverie who started the Stonewall riot itself. People like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera who formed radical collectives like the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, and the many, many others who literally fought and died for our rights.

United struggle also reveals how much stronger we are when we come together than when we have to fight alone. We must all continue, and redouble our collective efforts, to stand in one another's struggles. That means supporting workers who need to take strike action but legally can’t. That means supporting ACORN stopping evictions. That means standing with BLM, Roma, and Traveler groups to tackle racial inequality, and of course probably the most vital battle coming to all of our existences, standing with global majorities in fighting the climate crisis.

Wherever you live, we must all go into our workplaces, and into our communities, and let’s put our anger into action, let's build a true socialist alternative, be revolutionary, and let's take our class forward, and build a future - one of an equal society that we all deserve.

LGBT+ Socialists again send our complete solidarity to all of our trans comrades and siblings in Scotland and here today, we will always stand and fight alongside you, giving you a voice.

It's always darkest before the dawn, so no matter how dark things can seem, there will always be the burning bright flame of all our resistance.