UK Government Transgender action plan

[Anonymous]

The UK documents are a worthwhile read and would certainly be useful I’m sure but nothing negates the need for input from gender diverse Australians. Definitely the goals that the British government have set are appropriate for our country and it appears they intend to promote the agenda internationally , that can only be a good thing I think.

But again as I say we should still encourage input , it is important that the matters that people here may think important see the light of day. After reading the blog referring to some degenerates taking the piss and causing a member here some distress it is obvious the broader community still has things to learn when it comes to gender diverse Australia.

[Anonymous]

I have recently posted a link to a Statement of Needs That was put together by a number of Groups in the UK. Their list was presented to the Government which has prompted the UK Government to produce a Transgender Action Plan.

Quoted below is the basic list of requirements from the UK Needs List. If you can think of anything that you would like to add to this list please post a comment in this forum.

Quote:

The characteristic of the world that transgender folk desire is where:
– trans people are more part of normal life;
– where everybody is happy;
– there is more tolerance, awareness and equality;
– gender transition packages are universally available to people of any age;
– with all rights for trans people (including prisoners);
– NHS coverage for all aspects of transition;
– fairness & equality is at the forefront irrespective of irrelevant difference;
– there is no fear or hatred of people who express their gender in unconventional ways;
– trans people are not attacked, murdered or denied a livelihood;
– young trans people are not bullied;
– trans people have equal opportunities;
– the public understands that gender is not limited to stereotypes of male and female;
– there is more research leading to funding for trans specific services;
– we don’t have to argue for trans inclusion in the church or trans equality in the work place – it will have happened;
– my sex is respected and does not adversely affect my life and I gain acceptance;
– everyone is treated equally be it race, gender etc;
– the trans community has capacity to make change happen;
– people celebrate gender diversity;
– there is equal treatment in life for all;
– trans people feel more able to be out;
– trans people do not have to struggle for equality;
– difference is valued rather than feared;
– gender variance is unsurprising, understood and respected;
– I can be invisible for the right reasons;
– trans opportunities not constrained by discrimination or perceptions;
– where kids leave school with a better understanding than I did;
– people feel able to be themselves without gender stereotype pressurising them;
– we have a society that accepts everyone individually without fear or discrimination;
– complete equality for all;
– we have a GRA that is based on the application alone and the absurdity of assessing gender in any relationship context is binned;
– separation of religion and state – religious lifestyles should not dictate against those with physical conditions.

The rest of the document goes into much more detail as to how they wanted to see these needs acted upon and is well worth a read. I have repeated the link to the rest of the document here.
http://www.gires.org.uk/tranzwiki/docs/SON.pdf

[Anonymous]

Thank you Pamela for your obvious effort. A great place to start.

There is one particular line that stands out for me (unsurprisingly I’m sure) & it is; gender variance is unsurprising, understood and respected;

I believe that from a societal acceptance point of view, it sums up most of the other comments.
None of those outcomes can occur until the majority of society is familiar with what transgender means & who transgendered people are.

Regardless of all the rhetoric as to why TG people are hidden, the fact still remains that it cannot be expected that anybody accept anything that they do not know about.

I am not now & never have even remotely suggested that all Tg people be ‘out’ but there does need to at least be some who are able to speak up & be seen.

[Anonymous]

Found another interesting link from the UK for a document generated for the information of MP’s to help them understand Transgenderism.

http://www.gires.org.uk/assets/Medpro-Assets/insidestory.pdf

[Adrian]

Quote:

Found another interesting link from the UK for a document generated for the information of MP’s to help them understand Transgenderism.

http://www.gires.org.uk/assets/Medpro-Assets/insidestory.pdf

I hope this isn’t the path for MPs to understand transgenderism – because the document is all about transexualism.

Part of the battle most of us face is the frequent portrayal of gender diversity to the public as being transexualism. So that transexual = transgender.

OK so maybe it’s only a label problem …but I’d like to be left with at least one label that represents all of us…otherwise it just gets hard to talk about us.
(Though I acknowledge that many of the people surveyed a year ago didn’t see the necessity for such a label).

Labels, or no labels, we have to all understand the actual demographics of our diversity first. then we can talk on behalf of many.

Every time we confuse the needs of a specific sub-population with the needs of the gender diverse population in total – we just confuse ourselves and confuse others.

Sorry – but I for one would rapidly loose faith in anyone campaigning on my behalf if they misrepresent me in this way . 😥

[Anonymous]

Quote:

Sorry – but I for one would rapidly loose faith in anyone campaigning on my behalf if they misrepresent me in this way .

I don’t disagree with your sentiments but what are we going to do to fix the problem. It seems that this misrepresentation is a thorn in the side, what is the remedy?
A; Obviously we need to produce our own material if it doesn’t already exist.

[Anonymous]

I only offered these links to show what is happening in the UK, if we are going to get bogged down by the way they use labels we’ll never get anywhere. We have our own information and our own labels it’s a very easy matter to substitute them for theirs. The idea is to see what they have done and if possible do it here, our way, only better.

I might add that this document was written in 2004 and updated in 2009, so I guess the labels are a little out of date.

[Adrian]

Quote:

I only offered these links to show what is happening in the UK

I wasn’t for one moment questioning the value of sharing information – which is why I went to some trouble to split your post out into a separate thread where it can be easily found.

Quote:

I guess the labels are a little out of date.

I don’t think so… I understood the document clearly when I read it.

Quote:

what is the remedy

I don’t want to hijack Pamela’s thread on the UK documents – but I think I answered your question. I said (or tried to say) that a pre-requisite for anyone taking on a role where they act as a voice for the gender diverse is that they must have a clear understanding of the demographics of those they are representing.

To represent others is an honor and is a relationship built on trust.

To build that trust with the wider gender diverse community I think one has to display a sensitivity to the issues faced by a wide range of people.
And sadly the labels used may affect the building of trust with some.

For instance (yanking this back to the topic!!), presenting an article on the transexual journey as representative of the gender diverse is the sort of thing I would try to avoid.

Quote:

misrepresentation is a thorn in the side

For me personally – you couldn’t have put it better.

When one represents people correctly you will find they support the message (well I will).
This is something that no end of complaining about lack of support on these forums will achieve.

[Anonymous]

Thankyou for putting them under one heading it makes such a lot more sense.

The Government document was merely aimed at uninformed members of parliament, in an attempt to bring them up to speed with the subject at hand. They could not continue with the Transgender Action Plan untill they understood at least one part of what it means to be Transgendered.

Amanda said in her earlier post

Quote:

I hope this isn’t the path for MPs to understand transgenderism – because the document is all about transsexualism.

Forgive me if I am wrong here but aren’t Transsexuals a part of our community as well. Many Transgendered people go on to become Transsexuals so why reject this information if it is useful for the MP’s to help them understand the Transgendered condition. Without this information at its simplest they would still be debating who the Action Plan was designed for, at least by explaining the Transsexual condition to them they can encompass all Transgendered variations without bias.

We are all Transgendered but there may come a time when some of us decide to go that extra step and become Transsexuals, so I really can’t see how you can differentiate between the two.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

We are all Transgendered but there may come a time when some of us decide to go that extra step and become Transsexuals, so I really can’t see how you can differentiate between the two.

I think maybe what Amanda is concerned about is the fact that very many people in society only know about Transexual people. They don’t realise that TS people represent only a small proportion of all Gender diverse people. So if the information that society gets reinforces that notion then the rest of us have even more work ahead of us to ‘correct’ societies misunderstanding.

I can testify to the fact that very many people assume that all Tg people have, will or should undergo GRS. It is a shock to many people that I do not intend to have GRS, some even then think that I am not ‘for real’, just confused or even faking it.
Even within our community you will sometimes read opinions from others as to what is the ‘right’ or ‘legitimate’ way to be or present as a Tg person. If I understand Amanda’s views correctly she hopes to avoid such limiting representations so that we all can be represented, firstly as Gender diverse & then after that, however we each choose to identify our specific gender & personal needs.

If we are to correctly educate people we MUST ensure that they get the whole story not just the bit that has been sesationalised through the media. To be fair, the understanding even within our community is only relatively recent & the TgR survey results are a great tool that we can now use to indicate the current knowledge.

[Anonymous]

I forgot something but can’t go back to include it.

Quote:

at least by explaining the Transsexual condition to them they can encompass all Transgendered variations without bias.

Unfortunately, the opposite is the more likely outcome. Because Transgender encompasses the identification of Transexual & not the other way around, if people first learn about TS, or worse have ideas reinfoced then we have to ‘undo’ the work. If nothing else we will lose credibility because we can’t even get our story straight. They often already see us as confused, we definitely won’t help the situation if we misrepresent ourselves.

[Anonymous]

The document in question was distributed to MP’s in Parliament, so I guess for them to understand why they were being urged to change the laws for TG People. The laws would be the same for all of us so maybe they didn’t want to bog them down in a debate about the different types of TG people. The outcome has been the one that Trans Folk in The UK wanted so perhaps they were happy with the method and the result. Whatever happened there though doe’s not mean that we will tread the same path.

[Anonymous]

I wrote to Paula Dooley at GIRES the author of the Transgendered Needs List asking if we could use it to help format our own list of needs document. I received an answer within 24 hours. GIRES for anyone that hasn’t been to the link for the Needs List is the Gender Identity Research and Education Society in the UK.

Quote:

Hi Pamela

GIRES is so pleased to have received your message!

You are welcome to use our Statement of Need document for your
purposes but would be pleased if you could make some form of reference
to it.

GIRES devised the concept of the document and developed its content in
conjunction with Trans folk in the UK. We then presented it to
government to act upon. Clearly, many issues therein cannot be solved
by government.

Several years back we thought that the situation for trans folk and
their families was hopeless but many have been plugging away (longer
than I have) and we now seem to be getting somewhere. Indeed,
government (this week) gave a First Reading to a Bill that will allow
a married trans person to get a new birth certificate whilst remaining
married. At present, the marriage must be ended (brutally unfair!).
Back in 2008 we were told that this would not be on the agenda for a
generation and we were despondent but we continued to press and now it
seems that (fingers crossed) we will not have to divorce to get legal
recognition and associated protections.

The message is that you just have to keep up the pressure for change,
even if it seems hopeless. Eventually things begin to happen. However,
do not lose sight of the fact that until ‘ordinary’ folk are educated
to understand that we are who we are due to nature, the underlying
causes of prejudice will remain.

Seek out friendly politicians and press the government department
responsible for equalities if you have not already done so. We still
have a long way to go here but yes we are making some progress.

See http://www.gires.org.uk for other information including ‘numbers’ data.

Also, there has been at outpouring of inappropriate medical treatment
here in the UK on Twitter under hashtag transdocfail that may also be
relevant to you.

Good luck in your struggle sister!

Paula
Trustee GIRES

[Anonymous]

Excellent work Pamela & great networking. Regardless of any outcome or differences of opinions these are types of steps we can take to get started.

When you respond to Paula, would you like to send her a link to the survey results or would you like me to do it? It makes no difference to me who does it.

[Anonymous]

The importance of the links to other gender diverse communities is obviously of great value to our progress. If people observe the success of others around the world the they will be more inclined to seek similar for their own community. Sometimes we do seem to bog down on the semantics of our position stifled by our own personal positions or points. If we set aside all of the personal and aim squarely our efforts to community we will more rapidly approach the success of others.
Though personal interests are important that importance lies mostly with us the individual. I personally identify as transgender but I don’t want my view of identity to stand in the way of constructive participation in any discussion. There are many and varied descriptions of the gender diverse community and gender diverse sits fine with me.
The experience gained by our UK friends is a very valuable tool for us and I am hoping we can add to it for the benefit of us all here and elsewhere.

I sincerely thank all who make efforts like these your efforts are a beacon to all who are feeling disenfranchised .