The protest group have organised another demonstration on the date the government’s #SafeToBeMe conference was set to be held. It will take place in Parliament Square, Wednesday 29th June. 12 noon.
#SafeToBeMe was an event organised by the government to big themselves up over their progress on LGBTQIA+ rights. However the event was cancelled after stakeholders and sponsors pulled out en masse, with over 100 LGBTQIA+ groups signing a letter via LGBT+ Consortium and Stonewall UK.
The event reportedly cost the government almost £600,000, £200,000 of which is being used to cancel the reservation for the venue.
Stonewall UK said: “#SafeToBeMe was a missed opportunity to help further LGBTQ+ rights around the world and it is a shame that the UK Government’s actions have meant that resources and time have been wasted.”
The actions in question being the government’s decision to not include transgender people in the proposed ban on conversion therapy. A ban which we now also know still allows for people to consent to conversion therapy and therefore, doesn’t actually ban it at all for anyone.
Trans Activism UK have been involved in various trans positive action, such as protests and this open letter where they call out the media for its dangerous coverage of transgender people. This in the wake of the BBC posting an article citing hate groups and a cisgender lesbian who allegedly sexually abused other cisgender lesbians in order to frame transgender women as predatory.
I reached out for comment from Trans Activism UK and they said; “On 16 May 2021 the government made an announcement headed by Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss, alongside Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, that the UK were due to host a global event between 27 – 29 June 2022, inviting countries around the world to discuss the UK’s work on LGBTQ+ rights, and what the UK could teach other nations going forward.
This event was later cancelled due to backlash from the LGBTQ+ community and an overwhelming majority of UK LGBT organisations. This was due to ongoing attacks on the LGBTQ+ community which includes an unwillingness to implement a conversion therapy ban that included protections for the trans comunity, said ban being non-comprehensive and full of exploitable loop holes, a negative and violent anti trans environment being fostered by senior government officials, The UK government failing to deliver on key promises which included substantial Gender Recognition Act reform, and the depathologising of trans medical care.
The government needs to be held accountable for their blatant disregard for the rights and wellbeing of the trans and LGBTQIA+ community as a whole, but we are not the only communities that they have failed. The EHRC have been given free reign by the government to fail marginalised groups and are not fit for purpose, with removing structural racism terminology and being accused of “racial gaslighting”, and dropping a probe into DWP deaths of disabled people and refusing to hold them accountable for their eugenics-style practices. On top of this GRT communities are facing shocking levels of discrimination encouraged by a lack of access to public services or government support to live safely.
As it stands, the government have made the UK unsafe for anyone to be themselves. Due to this, Trans Activism UK will be protesting at Parliament Square on Wednesday 29th of June at 12PM. Join us.”
The protest will take place in Parliament Square on Wednesday the 29th of June at 12 noon. If you are a group centered on protecting uplifting or assisting marginalised communities, Trans Activism UK would like you to contact them as they believe its your voices that need to be heard!
You can find Trans Activism on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. With their various important links found here.
