Memorandum submitted by Press for Change (CJ&I 391)IntroductionPress for Change (PFC) is the largest representative organisation for transsexual people in the UK. PFC was formed in 1992 to "achieve equal civil rights and liberties for all transgender people in the United Kingdom, through legislation and social change". Press for Change is the largest such campaigning group in the UK and can currently reach 2,500+ trans people in the UK through its email lists. PFC's 'short' mission statement for the public is Respect and Equality for ALL Trans people. The campaign seeks to achieve its objectives through education and engagement rather than confrontation or demand-making. Good relations have been established with Ministers and officials, as Government has addressed the problems faced by trans people, and Press for Change campaigners have been included on all of the major case law and legislative processes in this field since 1994. Press for Change campaigners have also worked with similar campaigning groups throughout the world, in order to create similar good relations. The information in this document has been drawn from a number of key sources and includes statistical research data from respected LGBT organizations in the field of LGBT hate crimes. In addition further first hand accounts have been sourced from the research data published in Engendered Penalties,[1] and by case records kept by PFC or extracted from recent Gender Trust Help Line Reports. What is TransgenderTransgender is an umbrella term, coined in America, used to include people whose lifestyles appear to conflict with the gender norms of society. It includes many types of people and lifestyles. In the broadest use of the term, a transgender person crosses the conventional boundaries of gender; in clothing; in presenting themselves; even as far as having multiple surgical procedures to be fully bodily reassigned in their preferred gender role. In this report we will normally use the term 'trans people' to describe those people who might be described as falling broadly within this context, as it has become the term of normal use since the coining of it by Press for Change for their 1996 mission statement: "Seeking respect and equality for ALL trans people"[2]. People who identify as transsexual are a small part of this spectrum and may or may not have had medical treatment to alter their physical appearance. A Question of BalancePFC are mindful that certain groups and organizations will counter the need to create an offence of incitement on the grounds of transphobic hatred using freedom of speech arguments. Though, clearly certain freedoms including freedom of speech are rightly protected under the European Convention and incorporated with Schedule 1 of The Human Rights Act 1998, the majority of those rights are qualified rights. Article 10(2) states: "The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and necessary in a democratic society ..." Case law[3] supports this, in that free speech may also be subservient to competing public interests such as the right to manifest religion or belief and the protection of vulnerable groups, and vice versa. In Begum,[4] it was jointly stated (per Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hoffmann and Lord Scott of Foscote). "Article 9 of the Convention did not require that one should be allowed to manifest one's religion at any time and place of one's own choosing. It was settled law that the right to manifest belief was qualified and that what constituted interference would depend on all the circumstances of the case, including the extent to which in the circumstances a individual could reasonably expect to be at liberty to manifest her beliefs in practice". (emphasis added) PFC submit that trans people are an accepted vulnerable group who currently have inadequate legal protection against transphobic hatred and that there is a "pressing social need"[5] that necessitates the offence of incitement to hatred is extended to cover trans people. PFC maintains the law cannot divorce itself from the realities of trans lives by condemning many of them to the margins of society, forever defensive and looking over the shoulder and permanently in fear of attack. The Lord Chancellor publicly recognised the progressive nature of our evolving society; "It is a measure of how far we have come as a society in the last 10 years that we are all now appalled by hatred and invective directed against gay people, and it is now time for the law to recognise this." To omit transgender people from this protection is on the one hand to fundamentally misunderstand the relationship between sexuality and gender and the way these are visibly expressed and on the other permits trans hatred to fester and continue unabated. The Need for ProtectionAt present trans people in the UK have no protection against another person who incites hatred because of their preferred gender presentation or expression. Even though the Gender Recognition Act provides some trans people with the right to have their gender role legally confirmed and allows for their personal medical history to be protected information in some walks of life, none of this legal protection adequately protects trans people in their homes, their social activities or simply when walking down the street from the endemic street and workplace mob rule. As a group, trans people self-protect and behave defensively often whilst living in fear. The following are typical responses to questions about safety perception. "I'm afraid of the reactions of others. I am very afraid of the possibility of someone using violence against me. I'm afraid that I can't take many more knocks to my self esteem." [6] "Wherever a transgender goes there is always people looking and people staring and you are more prone to ... all sorts of abuse and I suppose that I'm actually afraid that, even if you're in a public space, being a transgender and somebody having a go, that nobody would stop to help." [7] These highlight the impact that the fear of violence has on trans people's emotional health and well-being. Such existing laws as there are fail to protect trans people in all areas of life, and do not address the root problem or causes of hatred and discrimination. The law does not address acts of incitement to trans hatred perpetrated by the media, and some public and private organizations. Neither does it resolve the many instances of local area hate campaigns experienced by trans people in their own towns and homes. Often, in these instances, the instigators and/or perpetrators go Scot-free. Only very occasionally do the police arrest a member of a mob, generally on the minor offence of criminal damage. The Degree of ProtectionCore IssueCentral to understanding the need for trans protection, and the degree to which, trans people should be protected under incitement law, is a clear understanding of sexuality and gender in respect of where they differ and in regard to the overlap between these separate forms of personal identity. Any drafting of a possible amendment to the CJI Bill in respect of sexual orientation and gender identity needs to take into account and understand that they coalesce in terms of perception and presentation. This equates to "visibility," the more visibly different you are the more likely you will be to be attacked or become the subject of a hate campaign. As a reality check, when it comes to theorising about which labels and forms of expression belong in a gay world as opposed to a trans world, it really is a lost trivial argument when faced with the possibility of malicious attack, even death. Just as nobody asks an effeminate gay man or butch lesbian woman, or a perceived gay man or lesbian woman about who they slept with last night before they beat them up, similarly nobody asks if you are intending to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone gender reassignment before they assault you. Equally you are not asked whether or not you have a Gender Recognition Certificate - it is patent that the way you are perceived is the motive for the attack. In the US, where hitherto there has not been the same degree of federal legal protection as in the UK, the last 10 years have seen 50 young people aged 30 and younger violently murdered because they did not fit the gender stereotypes for masculinity and femininity. A Question of PerceptionPFC view the matter of perception of gender by a perpetrator to be the paramount concern here when defining the crime. It does not matter whether you are actually trans or not (except in so far as the record seems to indicate that the police will respond better to a non trans person) what matters is that you are thought to be a 'tranny'. The following 3 examples show the extent of the sex - gender - sexual orientation conundrums perpetrators face: A trans woman contacted Galop after being homophobically abused because she was wrongly perceived to be a gay man. [8] A non-trans man with a high feminine sounding voice was mistakenly perceived to be a female-to-male transsexual person when phoning a service provider's call-centre. As a result he was mocked by the call-centre operative and not given an adequate level of service. [9] A butch lesbian woman who is repeatedly thrown out of women's public toilets and changing areas because she is wrongly perceived to be a man. [10] Are you sitting comfortably - Now let us beginThe Press and the Fanning of the Flames of PrejudiceReporting of trans people by the Press illustrates that some newspapers are feeding into and catering for a percentage of their readership who are transphobic. PFC hope that making incitement to trans hatred a criminal offence will also assist to make the following report a thing of the past. This irresponsible example of journalism demonstrates the urgent need to further protect trans people. In carrying out her employment Sue had some limited protection but given that a Gender Recognition Certificate is not legally required in order to recognise a change of gender, others in the same position may not have any protection whatsoever. Example 1: "Exclusive Fright Nurse: Sex-swap carer Transphobia is very specific and will not be protected by any measure to provide protection on the grounds of sexual orientation alone. In all probability the daughter's transphobia, and what she may or may not have said to her mother, manifested itself as the "incitement to hatred". Transphobia is pervasive within the majority in what became a very public example of incitement to transphobic hatred by its repetition in the press, . By having good law to support them in resisting this kind of incitement, not only employment policies and practices, local authorities are empowered to assist in stamping out this kind of irrational hatred and intolerance. In the event it should be noted, the mother in this article never did make an official complaint. Hard EvidenceSystemic IntoleranceSigma Research in their recent report[12] highlighted that the "dominant institutions in the lives of young LGBT people (schools, youth services, media and medical services) perpetuate and reinforce societal stigma and prejudice rather than undermining it. The current appalling situation for all trans people is starkly demonstrated below and can be found in Engendered Penalties, commissioned by the Equalities Review and published earlier this year. [13] · 73% of respondents experienced some form of harassment in public (ranging from comments and verbal abuse to physical violence) · 21% stated that they avoided going out because of fear of harassment · 46% stated that they had experienced harassment in their neighbourhoods · 64% of young trans men and 44% of young trans women experienced harassment or bullying at school, not just from their fellow pupils but also from school staff including teachers · 28% stated that they had moved to a different neighbourhood because of their transition Research and the RiskWith the aid of LGBT research here in the UK and from GenderPAC in the USA, PFC can predict who some of the casualties will be in any future orchestrated hate campaign against 'queer' people. It will be trans people and their significant others; particularly those (male to female) trans women who do not completely pass in their chosen gender; those trans women and men who choose to be 'out'; and we must not forget their close family members - partners, spouses and children who live with trans people in the previous two categories. This will include some of the weakest and most vulnerable trans people; those too ill or with a disability that has prevented further surgery or hormones; those looking gender ambiguous due to only just transitioning [14] or because of the age they are when they start to transition. The Pie chart illustration (obtained from GenderPac) above matches well the research evidence from Press for Change, Sigma and Galop but does not tell to whole story. What is being isolated is the risk to individuals by their visible gender non-conformance. GenderPac refer to the 'hyper masculinity' which is a cultural and social norm in the behaviour of some males where they expect to see other males behave in a certain uniform way. Where an individual does not conform to expectations then hatred arises and the hyper-masculine male resorts to violence. Whilst this accounts for male on male violence towards gay males who have feminine characteristics it does not fully consider the risks for all trans people due to our apparent gender non-conformance. Our risk is effectively doubled by the need to include trans men alongside the personal safety hazards that trans women face. Trans men are not excused from the brick or bottle because they were women, but rather are also subject to them because they "should behave like the women they were meant to be". Regardless of what the birth sex of a trans person was it does not accord any privilege. It does bear repetition and stressing that the perpetrator or person inciting violence does not distinguish when they see someone looking 'queer' or as a 'tranny'. However all trans people even people who are 'passing' in their gender roles are always in danger of discovery and being outed. All trans people now live with the same fears that homosexual people once had. As such it is illogical to afford protection for gay people yet fail to include similar protection to trans people. Under-reporting and Search for the TruthIt remains the case across the entire LGBT community that the majority of cases are still unreported. Stonewall's Queer Bashing (1996) found that only 1 in 5 incidents were reported to the police.[15] Galop's 2004 survey, "Count me in" on homophobic crime, noted that over a 12 month period police records would suffer from a gender dependency, with only 30% of men and 13% of women reporting incidents to the police. Extrapolating 21.5% as an average from Galop's figures, their research showed that reporting hate crime across the entire LGBT community, to the police, has actually deteriorated within the two London boroughs which were the focus of the research. The following is a statistical snapshot from the outreach work carried out by Gay Advice, Darlington Durham/Darlington Police Statistics for year 2005 - 6 Homophobic/Transphobic Incidents Reported 05/06 85 Homophobic/Transphobic Crimes 05/06 42 Offences Prosecuted 42 [16]
Gay Advice Darlington/Durham Figures between 2004 to 2006 Year 1 Dec 04 - Dec 05 74 victims reported 221 incidents, 19 crimes were prosecuted. Year 2 Dec 05 - Dec 06 103 Victims reported 183 incidents, 42 Crimes were prosecuted According to Gay Advice Darlington, at the time of writing over 150 incidents have been reported by 81 people this year.[17] It is worth noting that in the period 2005-06, in Durham/Darlington the police were able to catch and prosecute the perpetrators in only 42 of the reported incidents i.e. 50% of those reported. It also appears they are only recorded as a transphobic or homophobic crime once the offender has been successfully prosecuted. Clearly there is a considerable amount of under-recording in police statistics and returns. The Truth"[With]In 6 months I have window broken, a shed set on fire, death threats, threats to be burnt out, assaulted, harassed, but there is no crime scene and no DPP prosecution."[18] "I was attacked in the Student Union at "X" University for being a "transgender cunt" and had a knife thrown at me which hit me just above the right eye. Our Student Union does not have a good record of upholding equal opportunities.." [19] "They followed and started hitting me again on the street I managed to get back on the bus so did they. When it stopped again I again tried to escape again I got a beating. This went on for at least 10 minutes in total I took at least 20 punches to the head and about the same on the body." [20] Sigma Research bears out the findings of trans people's experiences in Engendered Penalties. Sigma stated in their recent report, which involved trans people as respondents: "The Lambeth LGBT population suffer intolerable discrimination abuse and violence. The fear of violence leads to constant self-surveillance and self-censorship. This is likely to have a detrimental effect on well-being and health." [21] Understanding Gender RepressionThe Gender Public Advocacy Coalition in the USA confirms recent Stonewall research on bullying and that hostility toward gender non-conformity starts early and is commonplace. In one recent study, 54% of youth reported that their school was unsafe for guys who aren't as masculine as other guys, while one-quarter (27%) complained of being bullied themselves for not being "masculine or feminine enough.[22] In another, 61% of students reported seeing gender non-conforming classmates verbally attacked, and more than one-fifth (21%) reported seeing them physically assaulted.[23] The hostility and bullying often orchestrated campaigns by young men policing gender non-conformity.[24] For the almost overwhelming majority of trans people gender expression and the freedom to express ones gender is not a lifestyle decision. In whatever form it takes, it is medically recognized as a disorder and it cannot be cured, though medical treatment can help it to be resolved but not in a way which stops it - the only reports of cures of trans people come from Christian Evangelist medical movements in the USA, and then later investigation has shown the vast majority of these claims to be unsafe . Every trans person in the UK today has to undertake a risk analysis that weighs up home imprisonment on welfare benefits, suicide (see below) or the risk of physical harm, possibly even rape or murder as the price to be paid for living their lives in their preferred gender role. Engendered Penalties showed that the suicide attempt rate for trans people is very high, far higher than the rate for one of the most mentally vulnerable groups; people with ongoing mental health problems as a result of childhood abuse or trauma. Campaign Hard Knocks"Bullying by local yobs who broke windows etc. Police expressed the opinion that there was nothing they can do but warned me that any retaliation would result in prosecution, all said pleasantly!" [25] Even 'streetwise' PFC colleagues have experienced targeted hate-campaigns many times over the years. In 1997, Prof. Stephen Whittle and his family bore the brunt of one action where hostile neighbours took it upon themselves to post leaflets through all the front doors within a one mile radius of his home. A "vigilante" style meeting was organised where the perpetrators sought to have his family removed from their home and his children obliged to leave their school. Similarly, Mark Rees, in his high profile role as a local councillor, experienced persistent intimidation from local gangs of youths which has gone on ever since, not just once or twice but everyday whenever he sets off to work, goes to buy groceries or to church, and even when he goes into his garden. During PFC's work on the Gender Recognition Act, one colleague had her car deliberately set on fire and her home was damaged in the resultant fire. PFC believe that general harassment provisions in statute by themselves are inadequate in dealing with trans discrimination and that 'harassment' prosecutions would be more likely to be undertaken by the CPS and police if incitement on the grounds of trans hatred was criminalized. On all of the above occasions it clearly was not the work of one person only, and someone somewhere started the idea that these attacks were worth undertaking. Without the legislative tools that need to be put in place, trans people are often put in impossible positions and risk prosecution or imprisonment themselves as in the examples later in this paper. This is the face of Lauren Harries after she was savagely beaten up in her own home by a eight-strong gang of louts. Lauren was previously well known as a child antiques expert under her former name of James. The reason for the attack appears to be solely due to Lauren's gender reassignment. In fact both she and her family had been the victims of taunts in the past concerning this. That this was gang led and caused by one person or group stirring up violent hatred in another or within the same group is surely undeniable. The following cases are further examples of the pressing need to protect trans people. Frightened at WorkDespite the Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999, as illustrated in Engendered Penalties the work place is often a place where group cultural values leave trans people at risk of abuse and even violence. Whilst the employer often pays for the part they have played, or their inaction, when a trans person is persecuted at work, the original perpetrator and troublemaker remains unchallenged. In 2004, Drusilla Marsland's employers; P&O Ferries, were ordered to pay £64,862 compensation for the 2 years of verbal and physical harassment she experienced at work. Those who perpetrated the abuse faced no consequences from the tribunal, though one hopes they did from their employer. [26] Often trans people put up with harassment in the workplace for quite a long time. Often they do not want to 'rock the boat' - they need the job, they argue. When it becomes intolerable and they do tell their employer, often they will discover the employer lays the blame on them. And if the employer does act, as in Reed v Chessington World of Adventures[27], often they consider it enough to say something, and too much to discipline the attackers. Professor Stephen Whittle, Vice-president of PFC, became a campaigner because of the repeated poor work experiences he had. In his current place of work, because he is 'out', there has never been a year (in fifteen) that he has not had to insist his employer take further action against an employee or a student because of harassment due to his trans status. It will only be by making it quite clear to fellow employee's that if they encourage and engage with any of their fellows to target a trans co-worker, they will be likely to face criminal charges, that we have any chance of beating the endemic & ongoing harassment faced by trans people in their workplaces. Furthermore, workplace protection from sexual harassment affords no protection when the harassment comes from those external to the workforce and outside of employer's premises. In 2007, the Royal Mail successfully prosecuted a trans woman who had become so frightened of entering a particular housing estate to where she was meant to deliver, because of persistent and very bad harassment from a gang of youths that she disposed of the mail. [28] At the end of the news report of the trial, a Royal Mail spokesman said: "the postal service has "a zero tolerance approach to any dishonesty." and that "We will always seek to prosecute the tiny minority of people who abuse their position of trust." Press for Change has chosen to highlight this particular example, because since the 1996 decision in P v S & Cornwall County Council,[29] the largest number of complaints we have received from trans people about an employer are from those employed by the Royal Mail. The public sector is still clearly not free from institutionalized transphobia. Frightened at HomeThis is an ongoing case, typical of the many referrals we have had from trans people. Names have been anonymised for the protection of the trans woman concerned: L is a young trans woman living on a housing association estate in the Midlands. Whilst transitioning on this estate she was very visible to everyone else on the estate and it was easy to pin down where she lived. Local yobs started to vandalise areas outside of her house and harass and abuse her. This included damage to her property and she and her flat-mate felt in fear of their lives. L reported the events to the housing association but for many months they appeared to do nothing. When they did act they merely moved the problem on, by just moving L to another home located within the same estate. L was again tracked down and the harassment and intimidation continued. As the housing association was not protecting her sufficiently, she notified them and sought police advice on installing CCTV equipment in order she could incontrovertibly prove the extent and severity of the treatment she was experiencing. The police had no issue with the use of the CCTV equipment at the time of the initial enquiry. The yobs concerned were identified on video tape and their anti-social behaviour should have been addressed by the housing association if not also the police. It was not, but the parents were informed that there was a transsexual person making allegations. Since that time the matter has escalated. Parents and supporting neighbours have now joined in with the harassment and abuse. The only action taken in this matter, supposedly to protect her, by the housing association and the police, has caused further considerable distress to L. The police have contacted her at the request of the housing association challenging her use of the video camera that they effectively authorised and the housing association itself has given L a Notice of Seeking Possession of her home. Justified (they say) by her anti-social behaviour - that of installing CCTV equipment for her own protection. PFC has responded with advice to 4 similar cases in the last 3 years. In all four cases, trans women have faced mob attack when someone has suspected or discovered they are trans. In all four cases when faced with a mob at their doorstep, and after repeated calls to the police has led to no response, they did something they thought might protect them; in one case they held a soft rubber camping mallet; in another the trans woman shot an air rifle into the ground in front of herself; in another the trans woman opened a garden hose upon the mob she faced. In all 4 cases they were charged with assault, threatening behaviour or similar offences, were prosecuted and - were acquitted! In 2005, in one of the most poignant of these cases a trans woman, P, asked a group of youths to leave the church where she was church warden because it was time to close. This is her describing what happened next: "I am a church warden in a small rural village in Hampshire. One night last October (2003) I was preparing to close the church, and asked a group of youths to leave, which they did but whilst shouting abuse at me. I am 61 years old and a transsexual woman. I was born male but whilst in my forties I transitioned to living as a woman. Most people clearly don't know my history, or if they do, they are OK with it. But kids are always your worst fear - if anyone is going to spot it, it would be a child. Later that evening, after finally locking up the church buildings, I drove my car down the small country lane that leads down to the main road. Halfway down it the car was surrounded by kids and adults shouting abuse about me being transsexual. I don't know how many people were there, but it felt like at least a hundred. I don't have a mobile phone so could not ring the police, so I just tried very carefully to edge through the crowd - I was very frightened of hurting anyone. One girl pulled down the passenger window, and started to climb in. She grabbed my hair, part of which is a very expensive hairpiece woven in. She threw that out of the car, all this time I was still trying to edge forward and push her back out of the window. It was horrible, really terrifying and I was scared to death. Eventually, I got through, and managed to get home. At home, my partner Mark phoned the police and reported the incident, and was told an officer would come and see me. By 2am, the police still had not arrived despite 2 more phone calls, and so Mark and I gave up waiting, and went to bed. At 4.30 in the morning, we heard a loud explosion and when we rushed to the bedroom window, my car was on fire. We rang the fire brigade and also the police, thinking it was probably related to what had happened earlier. Then I noticed someone creeping around near the back door so I went out the back to try and see what was going on and could see a dozen or more people from the same group as earlier. Before I ran back inside, I screamed at them, and then they stood in the street taunting me and Mark. I did threaten to beat them to a pulp, I would never have done it, but I felt like doing it. Finally, the police arrived. They came over to me, checked who I was, and then arrested me for an 'assault on a young girl in the proximity of Z church'. Apparently these police were responding to an earlier call from the parents of the girl who had climbed through my car window. I simply could not believe it, but no matter how much Mark and I tried to tell our side of the tale, in the end after weeks of waiting, the police and CPS decided to prosecute. Nobody from the gang was prosecuted, at least not to my knowing. The case went to the magistrate's court, where I was tried and acquitted, in my birth name, on both charges. The court was full of reporters looking for 'the man in a dress', but of course because I was acquitted it only appeared in the local news. But my questions, which are the same as the magistrates' questions in court, are 'Why did the police never respond to our calls? How did the arresting police officers know my former name - which was the name they arrested and prosecuted me in and why did they choose to use it? Why were none of the people involved arrested or charged? Why did the police never investigate the firebombing of my car - I had a real struggle with the insurance company because they implied we had put an incendiary device under it to claim the insurance? Why, oh WHY, was I arrested when I had been the victim of a violent assault, I had had my car destroyed and then, I had been surrounded by a group of kids who shouted terrible lies and abuse, never mind disclosing to all of my neighbours that I was the 'pervert tranny ' ?' This was the worst day in my life, and despite wonderful support from people at church, I know things have changed forever and, very sadly, we are moving house a long way away. I may have had my day in court, but I should never have been there in the first place." (Phyllis X, letter to Stephen Whittle, October 2004) Our PFC colleague; Dr Lewis Turner, has been working with the CPS to prevent these occurrences taking place in the future, but to be effective those who participate in group actions against trans people need to be charged and convicted of their actions. Only then shall we see trans people not trying to defend themselves. In P's case, we see a good life destroyed by the act of incitement to transphobic hatred. The damage is not just physical but also psychological and the post traumatic stress continues for years, if not life. Running ScaredIn addition to earlier extracts, the following quotations from Engendered Penalties were in response to the survey question below and demonstrates the acute sense of fear and vulnerability trans people constantly live with: When asked if they moved to a different area because of their transition:A: I was living in a shared house with another woman of a trans background. The household was subject to a constant stream of harassment in the form of verbal and physical abuse in the street, rocks thrown through the windows, attempts (often successful) to kick the front door in, and lit fireworks pushed through the letter flap. It got so bad that I was calling 999 up to three times a night. The stress was getting too much for me and making me feel suicidal, so I moved. B: I got very badly targeted in one area once and had to leave very quickly. I was assaulted and repeatedly threatened and followed. It was very scary. C: Car was wrecked in a hit and run, Two weeks latter, had a brick thrown through lounge window, happened over a 6 month period. Had the first stage of an ASBO issued against three teenagers who lived opposite. D: I got punched by the teenagers in my neighbourhood E: My life was threatened by my ex's family and I was physically assaulted F: I experienced constant verbal abuse from local children and my car was tampered with resulting in a front wheel coming off at speed on a motorway. The police were involved for both issues. G: the constant harassment in my town including vandalism, verbal and physical harassment which would not end. H: I have had to move and sell my house twice because they found out about me, and this year (moved again) also due to being raped and assaulted. I: Driven out by violence from one town to another. J: I have been hounded out of three houses by local gangs of yobs who have verbally and physically attacked me and / or vandalised my house, car etc. The Deaths of Trans PeopleThat this does not or could not happen here in the UK says more about providence than truth. Combined with post mortem practices that identify a cause of death as being from a knife or blunt instrument and not from being trans, it is often difficult for the non-trans person to see the true cause of death for some trans people. Trans people are murdered; a recent June news report highlighted that the killer of a murdered trans woman was now being brought to justice. This is not for the first time. Some would say we are also murdering ourselves. As research is now showing LGBT people are more likely to drink more alcohol and use drugs to excess - indicative of low esteem and despair - a life not worth living, if not death by drug abuse then, as we know, it will often be by suicide . According to the evidence in Engendered Penalties, 35% of all trans adults have attempted to commit suicide once as an adult, over 14% have tried it at least twice. We have no idea of how many succeeded. Respondents who reported attempting suicide, or self harm, because of being a cross dresser, transgender/transsexual or because of other people's reactions to them being trans.[30] Earlier this year a young taunted gay or possibly trans teenager laid down in front of a train to die. The London coroner's court heard the final details of the suicide of a Welsh teen whose family says was driven to his death by homophobic / transphobic taunting. Fifteen year old Jonathan Reynolds sent his family a final text message minutes before he lay down on the tracks in front of a train travelling at 85 miles an hour. "Tell everyone that this is for anybody who ever said anything bad about me, see I do have feelings too. Blame the people who were horrible and unjust 2 me. This is because of them, I am human just like them." [31] Protecting Trans PeopleA Form of WordsPFC suggest that by avoiding labels and instead broadening out the definition of gender protection, the entire complex concept of gender identity can be simplified in a way that PFC believe both Parliament and the public would acknowledge and support. For instance by not extending to who is or is not transsexual - that is a medical responsibility and not one decided by the neighbours or the kids on the streets - but rather who a trans, or any other person for that matter, is in the way they present and are perceived by others. PFC recommends that the offence should be defined as follows There should be an offence of inciting transphobic hatred. Trans will refer to those people whose gender identity and/or gender presentation is inconsistent, or is perceived to be inconsistent, with their actual sex at birth. ConclusionIn this brief report, PFC have set out to demonstrate the disproportionate level of violence that is directed at trans people and why trans people are more at risk than almost any other social group. Sexual Orientation and Transgender discrimination are two sides of the same coin and legal protection including the crime of incitement to hatred needs to be provided in both areas. PFC, believe the law must affirm the basic right of fair treatment for all, whether or not they meet ideals of masculinity or femininity. An incitement to hatred law inclusive of sexual orientation but denying gender expression/presentation hatred discrimination due to gender non-conformance is a law that will fail, and additionally compromise the health and safety of, trans people.
October 2007 [1] Whittle S, Turner L et al, 2007, "Engendered Penalties:Transgender and Transsexual People's Experiences of Inequality and Discrimination", Report for the Equalities Review, London: Crown Copyright [2] ibid [3] Miss Behavin' Ltd v Belfast City Council [2007] 3 All ER 1007 [4] R (on the application of Begum) v Head Teacher and Governors of Denbigh High School, [2006] 2 All ER 487 [5] Connors v United Kingdom, (2004) 16 BHRC 639; [6] Supra n1, p52 [7] Keogh P et al, October 2006, "Lambeth LGBT Matter", London: Sigma Research [8] Ben Gooch, Galop Project coordinator - email correspondence October 2007. [9] Scottish Transgender Alliance, 2006, Submission to the Discrimination Law Review, Edinburgh: STA [10] ibid [11] The Sun October 15th 2007. Article by Guy Patrick [12] Supra n7 [13] Supra n1 [14] Anon: Murders of Gender Non-Conforming Youth Documented in New Report, Genderpac, 13 Dec 2006 acc. 28/10/07 [15] Stonewall, 1996, Queer Bashing, London, Stonewall [16] Comment from Emma, a Darlington LGBT Hate Crime Worker at Gay Advice Darlington in person August 2007 [17] ibid [18] Supra n1, p52 [19] Ibid p52 [20] Ibid p52 [21] Supra n7 [22] Richie W, 2005, "Masculinity and the War on America's Youth a Human Rights Report" www,gpac.org [23] ibid [24] ibid [25] Supra n1, survey response [26] Report from the Press Association, Sunday December 17, 2006 1:03 PM [27] Reed v Chessington World of Adventures [1997] IRLR 556 [28] Anon, January 15 2007, Harassed Transsexual Spared Prison, http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/011507mail.htm acc. 28-10-07 [29] P v S and Cornwall County Council [1996] IRLR 347. [30] Supra n1, p78 [31] Anon, 2007, Taunted Gay Teen Lays Down In Front Of Train To Die, http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/06/060507suicide.htm , acc 29-10-07 |