“Trans Women Have No Place in Women’s Wards…”
… a brave choice that everyone should respect and support.
As a trans man and as a partner of a trans (wonderful) woman, I feel the duty to engage in the ongoing discussions surrounding trans women’s access to healthcare and the broader conversation on gender identity.
Hostility against the LGBTQ+ population, particularly the transgender community, has recently escalated and continues to surface during speeches and political debates. England is not immune, and in this article, I address a few concerning statements made publicly by British leaders.
UK Home Secretary Braverman’s assertion that «trans women have no place in women’s wards» and UK Health Secretary Barclay’s call for sex-specific language in health advice have raised concerns about dignity, safety, and privacy.
Braverman’s comments on trans people have sparked strong criticism from India Willoughby. Willoughby, the world’s first trans newsreader, went so far as to state that Braverman is unfit for any public office. In an exclusive interview with The London Economic, she accused the home secretary of being part of a government that promotes demonization and hate.
Braverman’s speech at the Tory Party conference, where she challenged «gender ideology» and claimed people are losing their jobs for denying a man can be a woman, has garnered significant attention. Additionally, during the conference, six cabinet ministers highlighted trans and gender issues, hinting at the party’s increasing focus on these topics as a possible election strategy.
The Home Secretary has a history of targeting the trans and non-binary community, notably during her controversial remarks at the National Conservatism Conference, where she boldly stated that «100% of women do not have a penis.
Critics, including LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, argue that these proposals sidestep pressing women’s healthcare issues. Healthcare disparities, symptom recognition, and underfunding for female-specific health concerns are long-standing concerns.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s follows the flock by humiliating trans women even further by emphasis on the rigidity of gender binary. In his party conference speech, Sunak pledged to ensure life imprisonment for “sexual and sadistic” killers. He also highlighted further non-controversial positions, such as parents having insight into their children’s school curriculum on relationships and patients being informed about hospital discussions concerning gender and, he stated:
However, gender is not a rigid construct. Many individuals, myself included, undergo gender transitions to break free from societal roles-assignments, a brave choice that everyone should respect and support.
While concerns have been raised about the supposed threats posed by trans women, the data strongly indicate that the real threat lies elsewhere.
For example, women are significantly more likely to endure severe and recurrent forms of abuse from cis men, including sexual violence. The statistics highlight these disparities with women facing a higher risk of physical, psychological, and emotional abuse, often culminating in injury or even death.
Violence against women is deeply entrenched in societal issues of sexism and misogyny, contributing to coercive and controlling behaviours by abusive partners.
On the other hand, data from the Office for National Statistics indicate that transgender individuals are twice as likely to experience crime, with 28% reporting incidents in the year ending March 2020, in contrast to the 14% of people whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were registered at birth.
Amidst these concerns, the rewriting of the NHS website and debates about pronouns somehow seems to be the most urgent agenda to discuss.
If the safety and privacy of ordinary women were truly at the forefront of politicians’ agendas, we would witness a shift in their priorities towards tackling the larger societal issues of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to be an urgent matter in their agenda, as Barclay stated:
“To deliver the long term change the NHS needs a relentless focus on patient outcomes …….. it doesn’t not mean spending huge sums of tax payers money on diversity consultants or hiring bloated internal diversity and inclusion teams”.
The political agenda fail in recognising the intricate and challenging work carried out by diversity and inclusion teams and this, should raises questions about whether the priorities and needs of UK citizens are genuinely being addressed.
