#uk lgbt

[catskincass]

UK folks!!

There's some new 'guidance' for schools in the works, which aims to force teachers to inform parents if a child is questioning their gender, or identifies as trans.

This would also involve refusing to acknowledge a child's gender identity without express consent of the parents AND the personal approval of the head teacher.

I can't stress enough how dangerous this will be for trans and queer children in the UK. Some of you may remember Thatcher's Section 28, a piece of legislation designed to "prohibit the promotion of homosexuality".

Practically, this bill legalised homophobia and orientation-based discrimination for years.

THIS guidance for teachers will be worse. This guidance directly targets trans children and puts them at risk of discrimination, harassment and abuse by the people supposed to protect them.

Below is a link to a petition you can sign to counter this guidance. If you can, PLEASE write to your local MP. If they are labour, it is likely they will have opposed Section 28 when it was released and, if enough determination is shown CHANGE CAN HAPPEN.

We cannot let this guidance get a foothold.

We cannot endanger trans children.

DON'T GIVE THEM AN INCH.

[emmarosela]

Let's be naughty 🍒🍆💦💦💦

[1smallmeg]

Someone needs to teach me how to style my hair now it’s short 🤕

[wtfjd95]

Need the sadness fucked outta me I think.

[giveyoumylife]

Double double

[seanofbeankeep]

I grew up during section 28 in uk. It started around the time I was a baby and lasted until my late teens before they removed it. Cultural impact isn’t talked about enough to all of us and as individuals.

What this law meant was teachers mentioning queer people or even stopping anti-queer bullying by telling children ‘there’s nothing wrong with being gay or trans’ could land them in jail. The law was in terms used at the time ‘it’s illegal to promote homosexuality to children’. As queer youth you never knew this law existed until it was revoked and everyone talked about it.

When it came into law from thatcher government it shut down a lot of lgbt youth groups in schools, banned books in schools, no lgbt context in history, science or sex education. Only the discrimination thrived in this environment. Anything positive was destroyed.

Many of us who grew up. You go through that toddler phase of ‘everything is mine’ to that growing up phase of discovering your likes and dislikes. Very quickly if you’re a queer child you learnt that what you like is stigmatised, ridiculed, or attacked. Adults ‘correct’ you, other children laugh at you, tv shows portray you as a figure to mock or predatory. Lesbian couple in friends at the time was definitely portrayed to make fun of Ross and portray one lesbian as aggressive. Or also you have feeling about yourself and the world you cannot contextualise because you’re blocked from learning about it fully in a positive way.

Like I definitely said things that now would be called clearly bisexual, poly, non-binary/trans masc. but at the time I had no idea this was queer. I was systematically taught to repress or fear those feelings. For other queer people it was the same. Some kids got outed and due to discrimination became homeless or self harmed. Online groups were not fully formed as they are now or hard to find for me. Many of us even with accepting ourselves later in life, still deal with inbuilt internalised Queerphobia about ourselves. Because we were taught to hate and fear ourselves.

With lifting of section 28 it’s hard not to see how positive it’s been to young and old queer people. We’ve expressing ourselves more, developing and evolving how we define ourselves. Getting more rights. Not forced to ignore or block out bad representation in our fav shows, but seeing and demanding better positive representation. Or more variety of what being queer means to different people.

Fear though is section 28 and what created it is coming back. The first law came about an over a children’s book (only sold at queer friendly book shops) that depicted two dads raising their daughter. Conversation and representation that had only recently come back. Backlash is hitting hard. Some days it’s feel like we can survive it and others fear of next generation living through again what we went through

[keirstarmerhateblog]

[stitchedcosmos]

Finally! Some good news for UK trans kids:

Just (re)did my GCSE’s and they don’t ask for your birth name anymore! They ask you for your student number, center number, surname and in the last box you can put whatever name you want (or even both your preferred name and deadname if u wanna be safe ig)

I’ve put my preferred name on all my exams (both this year and last year) and all my results have been legally recorded and recognised

[bluedot-blog]

New govt guidance came out for schools, feeling mad

[atleastimnotcalledrock]

Question is are we even surprised?

[loudestcloud]

Alice Litman got on the Gender clinic waiting list at 16 and died at 20 because of the waiting. I have had to wait the exact same time but now I keep thinking about how I'll always be waiting longer than her now. She'll never get to transition, it was robbed from her. I'll think of her every step I take now. No one should have to wait 4 years, let alone the now expected 10.

[emmarosela]

NO BAD VIBES 🍒🍓💦💦💦💦

[1smallmeg]

A wee sat night out !

[giveyoumylife]

Building

[brightonratgirl]

Thinking about the first DW special some more and really getting more disappointed with the attempt at trans rep. I thought about how Donna gave all her lottery winnings away and said she should have saved some to leave the area, but if this was real she would definitely save a chunk for Rose's transition? Because she certainly didn't get gender affirming care through the NHS while still being at school. And then I realised they never mention any real problems trans people face in the UK or anywhere?

The issues addressed are skin deep; Boys at school calling her names instead of the school itself putting Rose in dangerous compromising positions with those same bullies. Rose's grandmother meaning well but getting confused instead of how difficult it is to be properly recognised by any official body. A bit about assuming pronouns but ZERO mention of how we can be murdered, for being trans, while the police have to be browbeaten into recognising it as a hatecrime and the media will call us by a false name and identity which caused us nothing but pain in the articles about it!

The "rep" we get is reminiscent of MCU 'girlboss feminism' filled with puns and a joke about "male presenting people" (which barely makes sense, the Doctor was JUST a woman) just likely to alienate supporters and members of our community so Russell and the others can look so progressive without doing any real advocacy or calling out real institutions, including their own colleagues in the BBC and media in general. This is what actual virtue signalling looks like. Russell knows the life and strife of gay men but clearly doesn't know or doesn't care enough about the same for trans people.

The story itself was fun and I liked the characters elsewhere, but I am pessimistic about how the future will go. I'm afraid that in making Rose a cause for ally points, the creators have insured she gets no chance to be a character or a voice.

[diet-coke-and-cigs]

hi guys i’ve made a gfm for my top surgery, it would mean the world if you could donate or share.

Thanks, Ellis :)