Our public conversation about LGBTQ+ rights, and trans rights in particular has skipped the rails in recent years. Deadly boring, centrist positions are now commonly denounced as ‘radical’ and ‘going too far’. Yes, this mega🧵is a love letter to Theresa May’s LGBT Action plan.
In 2018, the government published an LGBT Action Plan, based on a major survey, consultation with the movement and collaboration with the community. It was pretty good! Here are just some of the things it included:
A commitment to publish ‘comprehensive guidance for schools on how to support trans pupils’. Just listen to that framing! Now there is widespread *fear* about whether guidance (when it comes) will support trans pupils or those who seek to marginalize them further...
A commitment to ban conversion practices for the whole community. Several U turns and years of delay later we are still waiting, while every day more LGBTQ+ people, particularly QTIPOC and trans people are abused.
A commitment to invest in reducing hate crime, supporting LGBTQ+ victims and encouraging reporting. Hate crime against our communities is, of course, skyrocketing now, and has been for several years.
A commitment to ensure that “the needs of all LGBT claimants are met in the asylum process, regardless of whether their claim was lodged on this basis”. Now we have the Nat & Borders Act, the Rwanda project, and negotiations with Uganda and Ghana.🤯
A commitment to reform the Gender Recognition Act. Yet here we are with the UK government sparking a constitutional crisis in order to *prevent* Scotland reforming it through the #GRRBill
A commitment to modernize the gender affirming care system. This system is utterly *broken* now. Every single GIC has waiting lists that are years and years long, and GIDS is in crisis. The pilots are ✅, but they are a tiny drop in a very big ocean of trans people’s misery.
The LGBT Action Plan said “We are committed to tackling the burning injustices that LGBT people face in their everyday lives. The commitments we have made in this action plan help us to start to do that.” Just reading it makes me weep.
Only five years ago, there was cross party consensus on LGBTQ+ rights in the UK, and we had a Conservative government with a powerful vision for LGBTQ+ people and our place in society. These are sensible, centre ground policies, all of which had (and have) public support.
So if you find yourself thinking that LGBTQ+ people, LGBTQ+ organisations, and human rights organisations have ‘gone too far’, consider if in fact it is you who have changed. We still agree with 2018 Theresa.🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
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