The dangers of Liz Truss' proposed reforms
by Claire Wilsher
It is safe to say the beginning of Pride Month was a bit of a bleak one. Trump rolled back protections for the LGBT community, allowing doctors to discriminate against queer and transgender people. Two Black transgender women were murdered in one week. And while inspirational protests rallying for these women happen in America, the UK government is attempting to push through a policy that would set back transgender rights and endanger the lives of transgender people across the country.
The policies set out by Liz Truss, the Minister for Women and Equalities, would see a reversal of plans to allow people to self-identify, changing the gender they were assigned at birth without medical oversight. An article in The Times which outlines the proposals states that new ‘safeguards for “safe spaces” for women’ will be put in place. The proposals would also reverse the ability of councils to decide their own policy on public toilets, as well as enforce stricter guidelines on what they could and couldn’t do. Allowing councils to take their own initiative has seen a rise in gender neutral bathrooms.
Truss has said that as Minister for Women and Equalities she wants to change the name of the government department to the Ministry of Freedom. Not only does it sound like it’s from Harry Potter (anyone else starting to see a pattern here) it also demonstrates an extremely damaging view of what she does. ‘Freedom’ in this context implies a lack of input from the government; it's a live and let live approach. But in a world where transgender people are being disproportionately murdered, this approach is more live and let die.
Truss has also claimed she would “much rather see individuals being allowed to succeed regardless of their gender, their sexuality, their race, and that’s the way I’m approaching this brief.” Seeking out equality by leaving it up to freedom and chance is like jumping in a vat of acid and trying to resist burning by thinking positively. These reforms would take us actively backwards and also foster a culture that is accepting of transphobia. So, jumping in a vat of acid and splashing some over the side at a small puppy for good measure.
What makes these reforms even more shocking is that they come off the back of, and actively ignore, consultation with the general public on the Gender Recognition Act. Earlier this week I was able to speak to Joni Clark, one of the organisers of Non-Binary Leeds, who highlights why this is so problematic:
“The decision to ignore 70% democratic support for self-ID makes it clear we’re further than ever from legal recognition and protections for non-binary people.”
With 70% of those that participated actively supporting self-identification, Liz Truss has chosen to simply ignore the public opinion that was sought out, in favour of appeasing a faction of the public who are disproportionately represented in mainstream media *cough Germaine Greer cough* who couch their transphobia in the protection of cis women’s rights *cough JK Rowling cough*. Allowing transgender and gender non-conforming individuals to self-identify is surely the most basic of steps. It is the step that accepts that people are who they say they are.
The effect of allowing this to be a debate led by presumed public opinion rather than by those who have cared enough to fill in a survey is already apparent. The Times has started an online poll asking readers whether trans people should be able to self-identify. In reality this is a poll to allow people to decide on whether trans people exist. Because if we really accepted that trans people are who they say they are, there would never be a question of whether self-identifying was acceptable.
Targeting public toilets as an area for regulation enables and accepts transphobic myths that transgender women are a danger to cis women as they will try to ‘pass’ as women to inflict violence. Joni describes how this is both inaccurate and offensive:
“These rollbacks will be devastating for the non-binary community; we already face additional discrimination in healthcare access and use of gendered facilities.”
The assumption that non-binary people want to be perceived as anything but who they are is demeaning and ignores their very existence. “For many of us, ‘passing’ (as either a man or a woman) is neither possible nor desirable, and it shouldn’t need to be!” Joni tells me.
There is actually no evidence at all that opening up safe spaces to transgender women endangers cis women. None. A study by the Williams institute in California found that “fears of increased safety and privacy violations as a result of nondiscrimination laws are not empirically grounded.” In fact, these rumours were made up and propagated by MassResistance: an anti-trans group.
According to Vox , the only cases of men having pretended to be women to assault women in female only spaces happened regardless of any non-discrimination-based regulation. Cis men have been doing terrible things since long before Germaine Greer saw fit to start yelling about public toilets.
The effects of legitimising these myths are already visible. She Who Must Not Be Named’s recent essay perpetuates these falsehoods and allows cis women’s safety to be directly pitted against the safety of trans women’s. Her arguments are dangerous because they are so emotive. They yell in your face: ‘HAVE YOU EVER BEEN AFRAID OF ASSAULT? Then you have to join me’. In a world where violence against women is so prevalent, she has gained herself a captive audience. Of course women are afraid of assault. But that means all women: cis and trans.
Without a doubt, however, is it the transgender community, including non-binary people, whose lives will be harmed the most by these public toilet reforms. Joni describes how “the suggestion that gender-neutral facilities may be legislated against would effectively bar us from safe participation in public life.” Gender neutral facilities mean that not every bathroom trip is a point of contention, a chance for someone to challenge your identity, an agonising choice. What to Truss is a point scoring activity that will gain her favour with specific areas of society, is a policy that will ruin lives.
While these policy changes would not make cis women’s lives safer, there is actually a real risk they might make them more dangerous. Cisgender women who are taller, have deeper voices, have flatter chests - all of them could be challenged, harassed and asked to prove their sex. In allowing this conversation to open up in such a way that allows people to feel they have a say in how other people identify, we put everyone at risk. How would we all feel having to prove our sex to use the loo?
Liz Truss’ reforms are already taking us to a place where it is acceptable to challenge people’s very being. At a time when global change feels really possible, when marching for Black trans lives in the US has seen turn outs of tens of thousands, we simply cannot go backwards. We cannot allow Liz Truss’ reforms to endanger the lives of transgender people, or to legitimise transphobia. As women we need to stand together to protect each other. And that means all women.
Title image by Caitlin Blunnie
Read more from Claire Wilsher on Going with the Wind and Wilsher’s Blog
