“Trans kids are always going to exist. They aren’t going to stop existing just because you don’t want them to,” Trans Aid Cymru co-founder Shash Appan told demonstrators in Cardiff this week.
By Ivy Taylor
Protesters chanting “no excuse for abuse” and “trans rights are human rights” gathered outside of the UK Government Hub in Cardiff on Tuesday in continued efforts to fight legislation which would leave transgender people vulnerable to conversion therapy practices.
The atmosphere was fiercely defiant, both one of joy and solidarity but also grief and anger. Around 100 people showed up to protest UK government plans not to include transgender people in an otherwise blanket ban on conversion therapy, a practice which UN experts have said could amount to torture.
Opening the protest was Shash Appan, activist and co-founder of mutual aid group Trans Aid Cymru.
“I think we can all say that it’s completely abhorrent that trans people are not being included in the ban,” she told the gathered crowd. “Because people who’ve been through conversion therapy, like me and others, will testify the fact that they don’t just discriminate against your sexuality or gender. They want to change it all… Homophobes and transphobes, they don’t distinguish. They want to make sure that queer people don’t exist.”
Beside a few hecklers who were roundly shouted down with chants from the crowd, the protest remained peaceful over the two hours people were gathered. A small police presence departed shortly after the protest began, and civil servants looked on from the windows above Central Square.
Speakers from both the LGBTQIA+ community and allies alike gave speeches and performances in opposition to the plans, with one speaker saying, “It has been a fucking exhausting time to be trans.”
The sentiment was echoed repeatedly as dozens of attendees took the microphone to address the crowd, telling of their frustration, fear, and lived experiences with conversion therapy or hositile workplaces and family members.
Organised by mutual aid group Trans Aid Cymru, the protest’s stated demands were full legal protections for transgender, intersex and nonbinary individuals from conversion therapy; commitments from both the Senedd and Westminster to communicate that being trans, intersex or nonbinary is not a negative outcome; and an end to the pathologisation of transness and of intersex bodies through a significant overhaul in NHS and healthcare industry practices.
Speaking with voice.wales, Appan told how Trans Aid Cymru was founded partly in response to the Conservative Government’s decision to drop planned reform to the Gender Recognition Act.
“But [conversion therapy] was really a gut punch, because it came out of nowhere,” she said. “No one expected the conversion therapy ban to be the issue. But the more we looked into it, it kind of made sense, because the people who [the government] has been listening to – transphobic groups like Bayswater and Transgender Trend, LGB Alliance… All of them are against this ban.”
Appan, who also does research for Trans Safety Network, said the groups they monitor “don’t want trans people to exist.”
“They are trying to advocate as a sensible kind of group,” she said. “But like the reality is conversion therapy is torture. It’s recognised as torture internationally. This isn’t new.”
It was revealed earlier this week that 56 MPs have allegedly been reported to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) – including three Conservative Ministers – and that one currently unnamed Tory frontbencher was caught watching porn in the House of Commons.
Compounding the scandal is the cost of living crisis; Boris Johnson breaking lockdown restrictions; and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill which massively restricts rights to protest, and includes legislation which threatens the very existence of traveller communities in the UK.
In this context, Appan argues that the government is using trans people as a scapegoat, and doesn’t “particularly care about this issue… this is just a culture war; a talking point to distract from more very real issues of inflation and cost of living and the rent crisis, housing crisis, Brexit. Everything has gone wrong.”
The revelation that trans people wouldn’t be protected under a ban on conversion therapy came on International Trans Day of Visibility, and just 24 hours after Jamie Wallis came out as the first ever transgender MP.
Speaking of the Wallis’ announcement, Appan said “as much as it’s great to have someone [trans] represented in the Conservative Party, a lot of trans people suffer from Tory policies. We suffer from the cuts on Universal Credit, and the cuts on healthcare.
“I hope Jamie will see a bit of light and leave the Tory party because it’s clear they don’t respect him. The day before his announcement, there was the dinner where Boris Johnson made a transphobic joke.
“I just don’t think the Tory party is a safe place for trans people, and I don’t think the Labour party is safe for trans people. It’s really hard to be politically active anywhere near Westminster as a trans person because it is so toxic.”
The situation in Wales has been proven less hostile however. The same day as the protest, Deputy Minister for Social Partnership Hannah Blythyn outlined next steps the Welsh Government would take towards banning conversion practises across Wales.
“In addition to seeking legal advice to determine all the levers we have in Wales to end the practice of conversion therapy unilaterally; we will educate and raise awareness of the horrors and ineffectiveness of conversion therapy practices by establishing a dedicated campaign in Wales,” she said.
The deputy Minister also announced that NHS Wales has signed up to a Memorandum of Understanding to ban conversion therapy.
“We welcome the response from the Welsh Government and are glad they are listening to the community,” a Trans Aid Cymru spokesperson told voice.wales following the announcement. “We hope that legal action is taken swifty to ensure trans people in Wales are protected against Westminster’s decisions regarding the ban. The Memorandum of Understanding’ with the Coalition Against Conversion Therapy is a welcome inclusion and is a step that may help Welsh trans patients be protected in the meantime.”
Although the Labour-led Welsh Government has made a clear commitment to protect trans people from conversion therapy, Welsh Labour faced criticism this week after Sue Lent, a candidate in the Cardiff council election, shared social media posts suggesting that transgender people are “brainwashed”, and reportedly made Facebook comments claiming that trans people are mentally ill.
The Welsh government’s steps may be welcome among trans people, but meaningful systemic change is still a distant prospect.
“At the moment, all we really have is each other, because we do feel let down, and that’s why we get a lot of people approaching us through Trans Aid Cymru,” said Appan. “And a lot of the time, it’s just support for trying to navigate the systems that already exist. The fear of transphobia is so high, and rightly so because there’s transphobia at every level, and it feels inescapable.”
“We’ve had to group together to seem stronger and defend ourselves. Because when we’re by ourselves, they take any opportunity to pick on us; they make our lives hard and make it hard to have livelihoods.”
For Appan and many of the other activists that showed up on Tuesday, it’s about getting the message out there, and demonstrating that there is a community in Wales that is “not going to take this.”
“It’s also to signal to other trans people who were not able to make it today, that they are going to be okay; there are people who are willing to help,” said Appan. “It’s not much but at the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other and our solidarity is going to outlast their culture war.”
*All images by Ivy Taylor
