Today is a rather significant day in this history of trans rights in the UK. For the first time ever a government has issued an Action Plan with the intention of advancing trans equality. You can find the document on the Home Office website.
Of course, like much of what governments do, this is largely words. There are very few firm commitments to legislation. The one notable distinction is a promise to amend the Criminal Justice Act to provide for a minimum of 30 years as the sentence for transphobic murders. Most of the rest of the commitments are to provide guidance, to engage in consultations, and so on.
On the one hand, actual government guidance on trans issues is a very good thing. In many cases discrimination arises as much from ignorance as anything else, and the mere fact that official government instructions now exist is bound to improve things. On the other hand, the document says precisely nothing about the primary problem: the media. I’m sure that someone at the Daily Malice is working on an article about how this is all “political correctness gone mad”, and encouraging citizens to ignore any directions that the government might issue.
Still, there is an opening, and the Action Plan includes a 3-month consultation period next year during which trans activists will be able to suggest ways of making the plan actually work.
Also, I’m pleased to see that Action Plan making specific mention of what they call “non-gendered” people, which shows that the message about the diversity of the trans community is getting through.
That is indeed qualified good news. The media… It seems that such is the clout of the likes of the Fail and the Excess that no politician dares to try and regulate them whatever they do. We need a sea-change in that attitude, and a clear line between proper journalistic freedom and the kind of exploitative prurience and prejudice that passes for it in certain places.