Open Letter to our local MPs - Transgender Awareness Week

Dear MPs,

We are writing to you to ask for your help in supporting the local Transgender Community.

As you may be aware, this week marks Transgender Awareness Week, which runs from the 13th November and ends on 20th November on Transgender Day of Remembrance, where we mourn those transgender people who have lost their lives due to hatred and violence in the previous year.

This year, this event is especially important to us here at Basildon Pride. Over the last five years, transgender people in the UK have been attacked and demonised by the press, hostile lobby groups and most disturbingly by politicians, including the MP for Thurrock Jackie Doyle-Price.

Those attacks rely on lies and misinformation, often targeting transgender women in particular, and are repeated freely without giving transgender people a voice in the so called ‘debate’.

Transgender people comprise around 1% of the UK population according to the best estimates available, and that figure is most likely an underestimate. This means there are upwards of half a million transgender people in the UK, with an estimated 1000 transgender people living in Basildon, and 1700 living in Thurrock. 

Most of those people will not be living their lives authentically due to transphobia.

Around 40% of transgender people dress differently to avoid abuse and discrimination, and 65% of transgender people hide who they are in the workplace. Many trans people are unable to access employment, with one third of employers outright stating they would not employ an openly transgender person, in direct contravention of the Equality Act 2010.

As a result most trans people live in poverty, with only 63% in employment compared to the national average of 75%. And of those who are in employment, the vast majority earn under £20k per year, often in part time employment.

If this wasn’t bad enough, vital healthcare is almost inaccessible. The nearest Gender Identity Clinic for the South East of England, including Basildon, Thurrock and Southend is the Tavistock and Portman Clinic in London.

Currently the waiting list just for a first appointment is over 10,000 people, and while the official waiting time is listed at three and a half years, the reality is that due to the restrictive, dehumanising and demeaning nature of that treatment where trans people are repeatedly forced to ‘prove’ who they are in order to access care - the actual wait would be more than 30 years if you were referred today. And that’s if you can access referral in the first place, with many GPs refusing to even refer to a Gender Identity Clinic.

This inaccessibility means trans people are often forced to source treatment elsewhere (known as ‘self medding’) , often from unreliable sources on the internet due to the high costs of private treatment.This is a risky and potentially harmful practice, but occurs in an environment where trans people are left with little choice in order to be their authentic selves.

All of these factors, coupled with rampant misinformation from lobby groups being published by the UK press and repeated by politicians has led to a hostile environment where reported hate crime against this most marginalised community has risen by almost 800%, and is now spilling over into open hostility against other members of the LGBTQ+ community.

It is therefore unsurprising that the attempted suicide rate among transgender people is around 40%, and higher among transgender young people.

We therefore call on you to openly support the Transgender Community during Transgender Awareness Week 2021, and to denounce the hostility and misinformation perpetuated by your colleagues.

Hatred of transgender people has gone on for long enough, and it needs to stop, now.

Thank You.

David Burton-Sampson
Chair of Basildon Pride CIO
david.burton-sampson@basildonpride.co.uk

Claire Prosho
Basildon Pride Everyday