Since the height of 2013, when the UK Parliament legalised same sex marriage, it has felt like society was going in the right direction. In 2018, the UK Government created an LGBT Action Plan which created a path for a more equal society. Yet, the ugly beast of bigotry began to fight back. This mainly came in the form of transphobia, but across the board there has been an increase in hate crimes for all LGBT people. This has led to rights being hotly debated again in the media. There has been a concerted effort throughout the past few years to split the LGBTQ+ community into LGB and the T. This must be thwarted, as ultimately the rights of any LGBTQ+ person are intertwined with others across the community. This is because of a common history, and very common moral panics.
A Common History
Throughout history, LGBTQ+ people have existed, even if the terms society uses to describe them are relatively modern. The very words we use to describe LGBTQ+ people have an interesting, yet very muddled history. During the 19th and early 20th century, pseudo-scientists tried to understand LGBTQ+ people. This led to the idea of ‘sexual inversion’ – individuals breaking traditional gender expectations and norms. Sexology understood a female inversion as both being a lesbian or being a trans man, for example. This reveals how when a heteronormative society has tried to understand LGBTQ+ people, it did not start off by dividing them between sexual orientation and gender identity. From the starting line, society had fused these two rather different forms of identity.
Even though both groups broke gendered expectations differently, there was an obvious need for both the trans and LGB community to exist as one movement. This was because they were ultimately fighting the same oppressive force. This can be seen with the German Institute for Sexology in the 1920s. They supported trans patients by giving them access to hormones and sexual reassignment surgery. It also supported LGB people to find a supporting community, which was separate to the homophobic society they existed in. Sadly, this progress was lost at the point the Nazis took power. But, this does reveal how even at the start of the 20th century there was solidarity across the LGBTQ+ community, even if the needs of individuals within the community were different. This recognition of a common goal, and enemy which united the LGBTQ+ community can be seen as each of their civil rights battles. The Stonewall Inn Riots in 1969 was a pivotal turning point for LGBTQ+ rights, with society becoming more permissive but still holding very queerphobic views. As the story goes, it was trans women, like Marsha P Johnson, that were throwing the first bricks. This is a critical reminder that trans people have always been a critical part of the LGBTQ+ movement. They share responsibility in every victory in LGB rights, and it is time that the whole community fights back against transphobia. This means fighting for bodily autonomy, better healthcare and a society where trans people can just be themselves.
A Very Common Moral Panic
In reality, the treatment of LGB and Trans people is not that different. It is the same rhetoric that can be found in each moral panic at each landmark LGBT rights victory. During the moral panic in the late 1990s and early 2000s, significant institutions like the House of Lords, the mainstream press, and the Conservative Party were trying to keep Section 28 on the statute books. In the name of protecting children from perverse ideas, they defended Section 28. The tragedy of this is that Section 28 weakened schools’ ability to deal with homophobic bullying and educate teenagers around safe same sex relations. These institutions ultimately only harmed one of the most vulnerable groups in society, all because they viewed LGB people as perverts. I hope this rings some alarm bells, because it’s not all too different to the moral panic around trans rights. In the name of protecting women and children, institutions involved in the ‘trans debate’ are actively harming one of the most vulnerable groups in society – trans people. Trans children are evidently safer in an environment where they are loved and supported, not in a society where transphobia is rife. Also, there is a tendency to suggest that ‘trans activists’, as some call them, are perverts and up to something nefarious. This is the exact same behaviour from these institutions at previous moral panics relating to LGBTQ+ rights. This is why there needs to be solidarity across the LGBTQ+ community, because it’s the same bigotry which attacks LGB people, that now is attacking trans people.
Also, transphobia does not exist in a bubble. The expansion of transphobia within the political arena has also fueled biphobia and homophobia. Just because progress has been made in LGB rights does not mean that homophobia has gone. Recently, Iain Duncan Smith MP has suggested that Liz Truss MP would abandon the ban on conversion therapy if she became Prime Minister. This is an example of the relationship between transphobia and homophobia – first the ban for trans conversion therapy was dropped, and now it looks like it will be dropped for LGB individuals too. Those who attack trans rights will not just stop there, many wish to turn back the clock on other LGBTQ+ rights. By expanding trans rights, we safeguard the rights of all LGBTQ+ because we cultivate a more inclusive and compassionate society.
Closing Thoughts
It has to be LGB with the T. Not only do the two groups have a common history, shared victories, shared treatment by society, but it also gains so much by working together. By supporting trans people and their rights, we create a society which is more inclusive, more supportive and more compassionate. A society which will benefit all people, especially LGBTQ+ people, irrespective of their identities. As history teaches us, we should be compassionate and actively support people even if we do not have the exact same identity. This can be seen with role of lesbians during the AIDS crisis, when they supported gay and bisexual men, destigmatizing HIV/AIDS and fighting for the medical support that was needed. The big fight for LGBTQ+ rights today is trans rights: their right to be themselves, their right to access healthcare, their right to be safe and happy. It is crucial that all people across the LGBTQ+ spectrum fight for these rights, collectively.
Finally, I wish to remind readers – trans women are women, trans men are men and nonbinary people are nonbinary.
The Next Conversation 