The UK government is seeking to rewrite the Equality and Human Rights law which could see trans people excluded from single sex spaces.
Plan to change Equality Act will ban trans people from single-sex spaces, charities warn | ITV News
I have grave concerns over this first and foremost, that the government is seeking to make changes to this law which would mean that trans people would be excluded from the bathrooms and other single sex spaces of their chosen sex.
Bathrooms
I’m only going to concentrate on bathrooms as this is the one that will affect 100% of trans people when they are going about their daily lives.
The law change will mean that as a trans woman I am supposed to use the male toilets when in a public place.
This I am sure will lead to both an increase in the confusion, and potential violence shown towards trans people by forcing trans people to use the bathroom of the gender that they were assigned at birth.
First and foremost, I personally think that making changes to the Equality and Human Rights law in the guise of protecting women is going to lead to a greater number of attacks to trans people because of the following.
First of all, and this is a big one that the media and government seem to constantly overlook, there are trans men as well as trans women. Because in cloud cuckoo land, that is Tory Great Britain and the mainstream media, there is only trans women!
This means that anybody who was born female and has transitioned to a male will be forced in the legislation to use the female bathrooms.
I have an issue with this, and it is twofold.
Number one, the law change is being put forward to mainly protect single sex spaces in the guise of women’s only spaces.
Now, can you imagine if Mrs Tory wife is using the bathroom in a public house and a trans male entered the bathroom? A man possibly built like a brick shithouse, and sporting a full beard?
Would this be more distressing than having to deal with a trans woman who looks feminine?
Secondly, how would your wife react in this scenario and how would she react if you went to the toilet and were followed in by a woman?
Violence
The next issue I have is one around violence.
I know from experience of how men have reacted to me at the start of my transition, with threats of violence, even when I wasn’t in the bathroom!
I foresee an increase in violence towards trans women, if trans women are forced by law to use the bathroom of the gender of their birth. I would also imagine that many trans males will be attacked in women’s bathrooms for the same reason.
Policing changes to the Equality and Human Rights law
However, the biggest issue that I have with this is who and how is this changing legislation going to be policed?
That twat in no.10 Downing Street says ‘It’s important we protect and support and ensure women’s rights’, I agree but there is many a flaw in forcing issues which damage protections for both parties.
Are venues, public houses, clubs and restaurants going to have to employ additional staff who ask for a blood sample to count your chromosomes before allowing anybody can use the bathroom?
Because, not everyone who is biologically male or female actually looks male or female.
Let me elaborate.
I have female friends who are not trans but look masculine. They may be heavyset, have broad shoulders, big hands and feet, an Adams apple, or heaven forbid a deep voice.
And I have male friends who are very feminine in appearance. Long hair, no facial hair, are very small and petite, and even wear makeup (this might be because they follow a particular way of life, such as goth, or new romantic)
Are these people to be told, “I’m sorry but you don’t look like a man you need to use the women’s bathroom”, or vice versa.
Trans people are using the bathrooms to got for a wee, wash up or touch up their makeup. Nothing else.
I suspect many venues will just make all their bathrooms, shared toilets? Which personally, I have no issue with.
Statistics
When it all boils down to it, the fact of the matter is that trans people make up only 0.5% of the population and crimes committed by trans people, against others, especially in bathrooms is virtually zero.
Now of course, this is just about bathrooms, and other single sex spaces needs to be taken into account but again the same questions as I have raised above still apply.
I know there have been some high profile instances of trans people in the news lately they have committed things like rape, but these were committed by trans people before they began their transition and I for one, as a trans woman, believe that you should be tried for the crime you have committed as the gender you were when you committed the crime. If you have transitioned* since you committed those crimes then serious questions need to be asked about where you are placed if you are sentenced to prison. Also questions need to be asked about how far you are into your transition.
*If all you have done it’s changed your name and put on a frilly dress have you even started to transition?
These proposed changes to the equality and human rights bill seriously need to be looked at before we even think about implementing them. These changes will not just affect trans people but will also affect non trans people as well.
And for the record all of my female friends do not have an issue with sharing a bathroom with me and many i have spoken to do not want changes in the Equality and Human Rights law.
