R4: Trans Rights Here! Trans Rights Now!

Every person should have the right to live freely according to their gender identity and gender expression, and the right to self-determination and bodily autonomy. Trans people, people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, are often denied these rights across Europe and reduced to only being recognized as "trans" (depriving them of the ability to also having other parts of their identity, such as sexual identity, independently recognized). In most countries this discrimination occurs at a systemic level, where rigid and static norms about gender, bodies, and sexuality uphold legal and health systems which do not recognise, respect or value trans people. In some countries anti-trans laws and practice are enforced through the rise of anti-gender rhetoric, the silencing of trans people, and viciously polarising debates which have an impact on the mental health, safety and everyday lives of trans people. Often the ‘T’ in ‘LGBT’ is overlooked, and the current attack on trans people makes it necessary, now more than ever, to support trans people and fight against anti-trans hostility and violence.

Every person should have the right to live freely according to their gender identity and gender expression, and the right to self-determination and bodily autonomy. Trans people, people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, are often denied these rights across Europe. In most countries this discrimination occurs at a systemic level, where rigid and static norms about gender, bodies, and sexuality uphold legal and health systems which do not recognise, respect or value trans people. In some countries anti-trans laws and practice are enforced through the rise of anti-gender rhetoric, the silencing of trans people, and viciously polarising debates which have an impact on the mental health, safety and everyday lives of trans people. Often the ‘T’ in ‘LGBT’ is overlooked, and the current attack on trans people makes it necessary, now more than ever, to support trans people and fight against anti-trans hostility and violence. It is important to affirm and amplify the voices of trans people - trans women are women, trans men are men, non-binary is valid, and trans rights are human rights!

From Poland to the UK, from Hungary to Spain, trans rights are under attack. Trans people are facing increased negative discourse, prejudice, intolerance and violence from conservative right-wing actors and anti-trans women’s groups. In these cases, trans women are vilified, trans men are stripped of agency, and non-binary people completely invisiblised.groups. We need joint forces to counter the hostility against trans people. As long as trans rights are played off against women's rights, right wing forces will benefit and use it in their fight against gender equality. Women's rights movements and trans rights movements must unite to overcome patriarchal structures together. Trans children and youth are especially at risk, as their rights to self-determination are consistently denied and overlooked. Often trans people are not consulted on their own experiences, and their stories are drowned out by anti-trans rhetoric, lies and misinformation.

Since 2019, 100 municipalities in Poland have been declared “LGBT-free” and in August 2020 LGBTQI activists were arrested for peacefully protesting in Warsaw. In May 2020, the Hungarian government made legal gender recognition impossible in practice when they replaced ‘sex’ with ‘sex assigned at birth’ on civil registry documents. In September 2020, the UK government discarded plans to ensure self-determination as central to legal gender recognition, sticking to a process that is largely inaccessible and leaves many trans people, especially children, behind. Despite legal gender recognition based on self determination being available in various autonomous communities of Spain, discussion on a national law this year has been sidelined by anti-trans discourse and false claims that a focus on trans issues erases (cis)women.