How allies can advocate for trans rights

In the wake of the Supreme court ruling and EHRC 'guidance', I've seen a few cis people asking how they can support trans people. So as a trans woman, here are my two pence worth. Obviously I don't speak for all trans people but these are my views.

So here's what you can do to help:

Firstly, be present in trans people's lives. If you have trans friends or trans acquaintances in your life, please reach out to them. Then reach out again and again. We are grieving the loss of our dignity when we need to be gathering strength for the fight ahead. The spotlight that has been on us for the last few weeks feels so intense. Please let the trans people you know that you accept and love them.

Wear a badge. I'd recommend avoiding more obscure flags and go for a trans flag with "trans rights are human rights" or "protect trans lives" that way if people don't recognise the flag they still understand the meaning. Buy from an LGBTQ+ owned company like Gay Pride Shop.

The EHRC guidance is basically that trans people shouldn't use the toilets that they feel comfortable in, but this is not law. Trans women will continue to use the women's loos and trans men will continue to use the men's. If you're a cis person, put a "safe with me" pin on your T shirt or the strap of your handbag so that if a trans person sees you waiting in a queue for the toilets they feel reassured. To me queuing for the loo feels like the time I am most likely to face transphobic violence.

If you're a musician put stickers on your instrument cases and leave them on view at gigs and sessions.

But by wearing a badge or sticker, you are committing to step in and help when we face transphobic remarks when we're out in public. Allyship doesn't mean a thing if it vanishes when we need it most.

Put your pronouns on emails. If you meet someone at a gig tell them your pronouns so that if they're a) trans or gender non-conforming they feel safer disclosing their pronouns or b) cis you're normalising the behaviour.

Educate yourself about biology. Sex is not binary. Intersex people exist. Trans people have brain chemistry that matches their identity before they even start to transition. Chromosomes xx and xy aren't the only pairings, people who believe themselves to be cis may not have the chromosomes they'd expect.

Dog whistles are neutral sounding terms that signal from one bigot to another that they have common views, which is insidious enough. But they also shift the way that people frame things and think about things. Learn the dog whistles to look out for and cut them out of your own speech. If you meet someone using them, don't use their terminology. For example instead of using 'acquired gender' when discussing a trans person's identity, just say 'gender'. Use of the word 'acquired' implies that our gender is a choice, that it is robe that we have chosen to wear over our 'real gender'. That is simply not true.

If you ever do public speaking then don't greet the audience with 'ladies and gentlemen', who knows how many non binary, gender fluid or intersex people are in the room. If you're in a band or an organising committee ask anyone addressing a group of people not to use that term. 'Welcome everyone' is a great alternative.

Educate yourself about Trans history, start with the Trans+ History Week. Read about Stonewall and then the Hirshfeld institute. If you want a really deep dive then Kit Heyam's book 'Before We Were Trans' is excellent.

Educate yourself about the links between transphobia and colonialism. The western two gender model was weaponised by sexist, racist colonisers who eradicated diverse views of sex and gender of indigenous peoples. Alok Vaid Menon speaks very powerfully about this. Here's a very brief taste of how sexism and transphobia were used as tools of racism.

You should know that 99.99% of what you read in a newspaper about Trans people is not a) written by someone with lived experience b) not written by someone who has friends who are trans c) not written in good faith to communicate or educate about Trans people. It is appalling how the mass media has treated trans people for at least the last seven years. The BBC and The Guardian UK are just as bad and often worse than the rest. (The Guardian US is actually much better on trans news and called out Guardian UK a year or two ago) There is a really simple remedy to this and that is to read what trans people write. QueerAF and What The Trans are trans led organisations that provide a way of interacting with trans news without the bias against us.

Keep writing to your MP. Protest. March. Shout.

Educate yourself and then educate others. It is so exhausting explaining to someone why you should have rights, share that burden with us. Then facilitate other allies to do the same. Trans people need opportunities to speak our truths and air our views but explaining that sex isn't actually binary or that trans identities are valid when we have an obvious vested interest in debunking that myth isn't very effective and it's really tiring. You can be a buffer in those situations, you can be a launchpad towards that person's acceptance of gender diverse identities and understanding of trans rights by having calm and kind conversations.

Live your allyship by identifying opportunities to change someone's mind or at least bring a little more nuance to someone's understanding of the subject of trans rights and seizing those opportunities

If you have a little spare change, donate to trans charities like Mermaids or Trans Actual or to trans organisations like QueerAF and What the Trans

Start boycotting. Here are some things to cut out: Harry Potter, X/Twitter and Tesla. Within the last week The Telegraph has started a transphobic billboard ad campaign about trans athletes in sport, so if you have a subscription you could cancel it, if articles from The Telegraph turn up in your news feed then click the 'don't show me stories from this website' option in the drop down menu. Why is a British Newspaper more concerned about trans people in sport than they are in the cuts to disabled people's benefits or the crisis in Palestine or the climate crisis.

Lastly support trans people by paying them. Buy a trans artist's artwork, album, book, or other creative output. If you need new photos for your website, employ a trans photographer. If you need artwork for your next project, employ a trans artist. If you need a shelf putting up, employ a trans person.

There are lots of different ways to show up for us. We need allies now and we will continue to need them for a very long time. This is going to be a slog. The victories that lie ahead of us will be hard one, they will take strength and conviction and determination.

Stand up, fight back.

Thanks,

Natalie

she/her

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