Being Trans: Munroe Bergdorf On Harmful Misconceptions About The Trans Group

Munroe Bergdorf is a former GLAMOUR Girl of the 12 months and one of many UK’s most progressive activists – campaigning for Black, trans and queer rights. She can also be a contributing editor at Vogue and a UN Girls UK Changemaker.

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2024 takes place on 20 November and honours the reminiscence of transgender folks around the globe whose lives have been misplaced in acts of anti-transgender violence. Vigils shall be held internationally, significantly within the US and UK, and visitor audio system will learn out the names of those that have died.

Final December, the federal government launched new transgender college steering that advised that folks ought to at all times be intimately concerned in a baby’s choices about how they identification. As Married At First Sight’s Ella Morgan instructed us on the time, the steering was an enormous “disappointment” and step again. Final 12 months, hate crimes in opposition to trans folks additionally hit a report excessive. With America’s new president preaching harmful anti-trans rhetoric, Transgender Consciousness Week has by no means felt extra very important.

And so, we revisit Munroe’s highly effective essay on the misconceptions that urgently want altering in regards to the trans group…

Misinformation is a big difficulty for the trans group proper now. It is rife. Whenever you’re listening to a few subject about trans lives, there’s a lot noise, panic and sensationalism, and it is not coming from our group. There’s pushback, which is coming from our group – we need to be seen and heard and are preventing for our rights – however the misinformation about who trans individuals are is coming from folks in pretty privileged, highly effective positions who usually have considerably influential and impactful jobs within the media or in authorities.

Take the problem of conversion remedy, for instance. When essentially the most highly effective minister in authorities, our Prime Minister, ignores public consultations in favour of transgender folks having the ability to self-identify, then pronounces a future ban on conversion remedy for homosexual and bisexual folks, however not us – it not solely then places out misinformation, however it reinstates the ethical panic that’s at present threatening transgender folks.

That is not solely our rights, however our mind-set, our bodily wellbeing. Our entry to protected areas. The snowball impact that may have.

Transphobia has made its approach into parliament. It is made its approach into mainstream media. It is made its approach into colleges and workplaces – it is form of unavoidable, and fixed publicity to such sensationalist misinformation and condemnation takes its toll. Once we’re speaking about trans rights, it is actually necessary that we keep in mind that misinformation on this time is rife.

False impression 1: Trans folks don’t have rights

Many individuals aren’t conscious of the protections that trans folks have already got. Plainly lots of most of the people suppose that we do not really have already got entry to sure areas, that we don’t already use such areas with out folks being conscious, with out something dangerous occurring.

Beneath the gender recognition act, the legislation says that trans girls are girls. And the legislation says that we do have entry to the areas that align with our gender identification. Exclusion on the idea of somebody being transgender is discrimination.