In the first in a series of posts from LGBT Humanists where guest authors offer humanist perspectives on issues faced by the LGBT community in the UK, LGBT Humanists Campaigns Officer Kristína Zaťková marks Transgender Day of Visibility (31 March) by looking at the persistent attacks on trans people – from media rhetoric to bullying in schools to hate crime. The series of posts will continue with Lesbian Visibility Day (26 April), Celebrate Bisexuality Day (23 September), and National Coming Out Day (11 October).
Today is Transgender Day of Visibility. Days of visibility or awareness like this are littered across the calendar. They exist to bring attention to the struggles a particular group of people faces usually because of their identity. Discriminating against someone on the basis of their identity is illegal in the UK yet in 2023, for many, these days of visibility still feel sorely needed.
Humanist values: respect, dignity, and equal treatment
For humanists, it’s an important principle that in a fair and open society, everyone should have the freedom to shape their own lives, and pursue their own happiness, restrained by law only insofar as to protect the freedoms of others. It’s for this reason that humanists have always been robust champions of freedom of thought, freedom of choice, and free expression – including personal self-expression. Humanists try to treat other people with warmth, empathy, and kindness and, to the greatest extent possible, to work for equal treatment, dignity, and respect for everyone as they go about their daily lives. It’s why LGBT Humanists and Humanists UK have always been strong voices for LGBT rights.
LGBT Humanists and Humanists UK have been advocating for the rights of sexual minorities – LGBT people – since the 1890s, and throughout the 20th century as the LGBT community faced popular hostility, legal oppression, and media stigma. In the late 1970s, so strong was the public backlash against the growing visibility of gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals that LGBT Humanists came together – originally as the ‘Gay Humanist Group’ – to combat the febrile moral panic whipped up by tabloid newspapers and well-known media figures like Mary Whitehouse. Does any of this sound familiar?
In recent years trans people in the UK have faced relentless misinformation and fear-mongering from both the media and some politicians. Much of this retreads the tropes of the homophobic moral panic of the 1970s and 80s, concerned about gay people ‘recruiting’ or ‘confusing’ children through schools, which under Thatcher led to the creation of ‘Section 28’, a law banning all mention of homosexuality in schools. Today LGBT-inclusive RSE is in the crosshairs, with social conservatives ringing a familiar-sounding alarm, with renewed focus on the visibility and awareness of trans people in the media and society. Some of the specific claims made about what is taught about in RSE do not appear to be supported by evidence. But in a time of social media info wars, that doesn’t stop people thinking they are true. And in the context of widespread media hostility, it is easy for very well-meaning people to be shocked and appalled by headlines they see, and buy into the idea that there are a load of bizarre, unseemly activists out there trying to confuse children.
The reality is that more people today (around 3.4% of the population) identify as LGBT because society is more accepting and so it is safer and easier for people to come out than it was in the past. Painting being trans as some sort of epidemic, a fad, an ‘ideology’, or, worse still, a sinister plot, leads to trans people having to constantly fight for access to healthcare or even the right to do their jobs or exist in public spaces.
Hate crime legislation needs to protect everyone
A Public First survey for More in Common found that 41% of British adults said that schools should have a specific policy to tackle transphobia as an aspect of anti-LGBT bullying. This seems especially important in the light of the murder of Brianna Ghey. Brianna was a 16-year-old trans girl from Birchwood in Warrington who was killed on 11 February in Culcheth Linear Park. A boy and a girl both 15 were arrested on suspicion of her murder.
Police are investigating if this was a hate crime. According to the official statistics issued by the UK Government, ‘in the year ending March 2022 across England and Wales sexual orientation hate crimes increased by 41% (to 26,152)… and transgender identity hate crimes by 56% (to 4,355); these percentage increases were much higher than seen in recent years.’ Due to improvements in hate crime recording, the Home Office cautions that this data does not yet in itself provide a reliable indicator of a trend.
Whatever the figure, the number is likely to be underreported. Out of 108,100 responses to the 2018 National LGBT Survey, 91% of LGBT people said they did not report ‘the most serious type of incident’ such as physical or sexual assault and harassment, and trans people were more likely others to have had a bad experience reporting physical or sexual harassment or violence to in police the past.
In December 2021 the Law Commission published recommendations to reform hate crime legislation to make sure that LGBT people who are victims of crime receive the same protections as victims targeted for other protected characteristics – namely ‘race’ and ‘religion’. Humanists UK welcomed the proposal for a single ‘Hate Crime Act’ extending and specifically stipulating equal protection to various protected characteristics identified in the Equality Act.
Standing up against hate
What Brianna’s friends and family say is that she was being bullied at school because she was trans. Here we see where education can play a critical role in challenging hate and misinformation. In the age of the Internet, where misinformation, sensationalist headlines, and partial screengrabs, can easily masquerade as cold hard facts, common sense, or overwhelming evidence, it is all the more important for schools to provide pupils with balanced age-appropriate education on things like race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. It is not enough to simply teach that minorities exist and that we are all equal. Teachers also need to address the stereotypes that are being spread about minorities and debunk them. Bullying is categorically wrong in all instances and schools have a duty of care both to stop it and prevent it. As in relation to racial and homophobic bullying, one of the most effective ways of preventing bullying based on identity is to make sure that other children will be able to recognise it, name it, and reject it when they see it in the classroom or playground.
Thankfully, space can be found to teach about these things, through Citizenship Education (which covers human rights) or Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Just as with Religious Education (RE), where learning about different religious and non-religious beliefs promotes tolerance and social harmony by equipping young people to navigate a world where they will encounter differences, so it is with age-appropriate, fact-based education about LGBT identities. These facts are straightforward enough: some men are attracted to men, some women are attracted to women, some people are attracted to both, and some people are trans. In both RE and RSE, schools should look to use high-quality resources from reputable organisations, and train teachers adequately in how to teach these subjects in an age-appropriate way.
Ultimately, if we want to live in a fair society where equality and freedom of choice, thought, and expression are paramount, it is something we need to create in our everyday lives, too.
As humanists we believe that all people are equal and should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their identity or background. But simply not holding harmful beliefs ourselves isn’t always enough. Here humanist values can offer a guide, knowing that rational thinking and kindness go hand in hand. Ask for evidence and citations, and be sceptical of partial quotations, screengrabs, and media reporting that looks and sounds sensationalist. And remember to treat others – both in our midst and far away – with simple kindness and dignity, too. It goes a long way. The best starting place is always empathy, and thinking about how we would want to be treated if we were in someone’s shoes.
Notes:
LGBT Humanists is a section of Humanists UK. For over 40 years, LGBT Humanists has fought for equality for LGBT people. LGBT Humanists was founded in 1979 in response to the Gay News blasphemy trial, and we’ve blazed a trail since then arguing for equality by challenging religious opposition to LGBT rights. From equalising the age of consent and campaigning for same-sex marriage, to more recent campaigns to ban the horrific practice of ‘conversion therapy’, we have been resolute in calling for equal rights.
Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by 100,000 members and supporters, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. We provide ceremonies, pastoral care, education, and support services benefitting over a million people every year and our campaigns advance humanist thinking on ethical issues, human rights, and equal treatment for all.