Why we must not tolerate intolerance in our society
When it comes to public views on LGBT our supposedly cosmopolitan, 21st-century island still has some way to go
You might think that in 2018, in what is supposed to be the age of acceptance, of diversity, of tolerance, that the Island’s national newspaper read by thousands of people every day might think twice about giving a platform to a conspiracy-pushing open transphobe with a seemingly favourable view of the most evil regime in history, the Third Reich.
Sadly, you’d be wrong.
On the 14th of May, the Jersey Evening Post published a letter to the editor from a Mr. Gerard Baudains, former Deputy of St. Clement and erstwhile apologist for the Nazis who also stood as a senatorial candidate in this year’s election — endorsed, of course, by our old friends over at the Jersey Action Group. Here are a few choice picks from Mr. Baudains’ little rant:
“What is LGBT, anyway?”
“Transgender? You are what you were born as, and you cannot change your sex”
“If there are people who are uncomfortable with their gender, then a discussion with a psychiatrist would be more appropriate than with a surgeon”
“This gender-neutral nonsense with boys dressed in girls’ clothing only serves to exacerbate the problem”
“That” (opposition to homophobic attitudes by LGBT pressure groups) “is reminiscent of the tactics used during communist regimes”
And, perhaps most repugnant of all:
“The German Nazi Party may have saved us all from a communist takeover of Europe” and “bankers took control of countries’ economies, effectively becoming their shadow government”.
Leaving aside the fairly blatant, unsubtle support for fascism, what I’d really like to dig into is Baudains’ attitude towards trans people, which is nothing short of disgusting and disgraceful. Transphobia is a problem everywhere, and Jersey is no exception. It has no boundaries of age, class or gender — trans people suffer casual discrimination by people from all walks of life, all the time. Kids, parents, grannies, all often aren’t accepting at all of trans people. They are forced to debate their very existence, told they have a mental disorder or are just looking for attention, bullied, ridiculed, abused — you name it, a trans person has probably suffered it. Last year, 325 murders were recorded internationally of trans people simply for expressing who they are. Trans kids have a massively increased chance of developing mental health issues, and in the UK, almost half have attempted suicide and ~80% have self-harmed.
This problem doesn’t come from nowhere. Prejudice against trans people isn’t natural — even a violently homophobic society like Iran is fully accepting of gender dysphoria and people who wish to change their gender, and has been for decades. Gender dysphoria is a huge amount to deal with and often causes mental health problems in trans kids all by itself — and then on top of that, trans kids are asked to put up with the relentless bullying, harassment and mocking they receive at the hands of so many people, both their peers and older people. Let me be crystal clear — this kind of rhetoric puts people’s lives at risk, and therefore, the people saying those things are responsible for the consequences. The old mantra of “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” has never been more untrue — words like the ones Mr. Baudains uses run the risk of pushing some depressed trans kid unfortunate enough to be reading the paper from sad to suicidal.
It mocks the very existence, the very idea of a trans person, and there is nothing more harmful to a person than to be crushed like that.
I’m not an opponent of free speech. Mr Baudains has the right to say whatever he likes to whoever he likes and I’m not going to stop him. Whatever certain pundits might think, this isn’t a free speech issue. The problem, as I see it, is our national newspaper, our only newspaper, giving a platform to someone who is clearly an extremist of the most odious kind. It’s the civic duty of our supposedly impartial national newspaper to defend all sections of our community — Jersey, English or Portuguese, straight or gay, cis or trans, “gris ventres” or “les Enfuntchis”. Publishing the platforms of hateful loons to chase controversy is not what journalism should be about.
It isn’t just a problem of the papers, either. The way that homophobia and other forms of discrimination against LGBT+ people have permeated our politics has been truly disturbing. Perhaps the most concerning part of this whole affair is that Baudains received 6000+ votes in this year’s general election. You might argue “oh, but we didn’t know about his views on this at the time!”. Rubbish. This is the same Gerard Baudains who said
“The Bible Sir — Leviticus 22 — tells that homosexual intercourse is an abomination and I think for very good reason because, if the entire population were to engage in anal instead of vaginal intercourse, mankind would cease to exist within about 100 years” during a debate on a proposal in the States to lower the age of homosexual consent to 16 in 2006 — indeed, him and former Deputy of St. Ouen James Reed led the campaign against equalised consent. During the 2014 election, Baudains was one of more than a third of candidates who ignored a poll by Liberate and Trans*Jersey asking whether they would support equal marriage and removing the ban on the giving of blood by gay men. Terrifyingly, thousands of people voted for this man in full knowledge of his intense homophobia, apparently not bothered. Shocking, for a supposedly cosmopolitan, 21st-century island, but the reality we live in.
If we’re talking about the political sphere, we mustn’t of course forget two of our esteemed senators, John le Fondré and Sarah Ferguson. These two were the masterminds behind the infamous “tolerance” clause, an amendment to equal marriage legislation that would’ve seen discrimination against LGBT+ people on the basis of religious belief protected by law. Thankfully, the amendment was thrown out by a ringing 40 votes contre, 5 votes pour, but where are its’ architects now? le Fondré is, of course, our new Chief Minister, with Ferguson heading up the Public Accounts Committee.
Even with this deep penetration of our political apparatus, either by out and out homophobes or those who seek to strangle the spirit of pro-LGBT legislation with “tolerance” clauses, there are still those who call for an end to Pride parades, arguing that LGBT people are liberated, that Pride is unnecessary in 2018, that the fight has been won.
Rubbish.
Protect LGBT+ people, especially LGBT+ kids. Don’t just tolerate — defend. If you see or hear a LGBT+ person being subject to ridicule, step in. These attitudes have gone unchallenged and casually expressed for far too long.
It’s time for it to stop.
