A letter to my MP about the proposed Anti-Trans laws in the UK

Dear Caroline,

I am one of your constituents, living at [somewhere in Brighton].

I am truly horrified by the news that the Tories will introduce a ban on Trans women access to women’s spaces.

I hope that it should be self evident, but trans women are zero risk to other people. It is appalling that I have to keep writing this, but here we are.

Trans women are some of the most marginalised members of society and this bill will put tens of thousands of lives at risk. This isn’t an abstract, made up risk like the right wing uses (‘a bad man could identify as a woman and attack a woman’). Requiring transgender women to use mens’ facilities is a real and immediate risk, which will substantially increase the chances of abuse, assault and rape.

• The Sunday Times used the grubby phrase “Male Bodied”. I now am four years post op and while I may not be “male bodied” anymore (assuming that’s the definition) and so may be permitted to access “single sex spaces”. However it is highly likely that I will experience invasive and humiliating questions about the contents of my knickers. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that these encounters will turn abusive or violent.
• Prior to my op, I moved around society as a woman for several years. Requiring me to use the male facilities back then would have left me at risk of abuse, violence, rape or murder. It is not hard to imagine a scenario on a Saturday night in a bar or club with drunk men in a toilet meeting a transgender woman turning badly.
• It is worth noting that once approved for surgery, many transgender women endure enormous waiting times, often spanning many years. They would do it tomorrow if they could, but this is not possible due to those waiting times.
• It is also important to note that just to get to the above point, (approved for surgery), the NHS typically requires a period of living “full time” also known as gaining “real life experience”. This involves moving through society as any other woman. Any law preventing pre-op trans women from accessing life as a woman will prevent them from getting approved to become “post-op” trans women. This is a cruel paradox.
• My niece is 13. Sie is a transgender girl. She cannot (and should not) have surgery until she is 18. She will however, be taking puberty blockers and from 16 female hormones. She will have never gone through a male puberty. A new law requiring her to share boys facilities. Will almost guarantee bullying and dramatically increase her risk of sexual assault or rape. She is a child.
• Many trans women cannot or do not wish to have surgical intervention. This proposed law clearly seeks to vilify these women as the predatory “man in a dress”. It is often (falsely) claimed by anti-trans activists that “most trans women want to keep their fully functioning male equipment”. It is not societies place to demand people go through horrifically invasive and painful surgeries because that is what the general population has decided is the appropriate way to be transgender. Transgender people should decide how to be transgender. Even if a trans woman does not wish to have surgery — that is none of society’s business. It also is a red herring when considering the bathroom debate (which in itself is a transphobic red herring) — When was the last time anyone saw the contents of your knickers in a public toilet?

I am very scared and confused at how all this can be happening. Please help.

Amy