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Author: Emma Rylands

Write a letter to Liz about Trans Equality

Posted on by Emma Rylands

Gscene columnist Emma asks us all to ‘Write a letter to Liz’ about Trans Equality

This film unfortunately depicts the sad reality for most of us.  People who hold negative  opinions about trans people, have often never met or even spoken to one.

I am so sad by the scaremongering I read throughout the day on public platforms by people who haven’t got the faintest idea of what is happening in our lives.

Since the beginning of this pandemic, I’ve put my writing pen down and it was my understanding that as the entire world is suffering, we should all unite and do our best to help one another and try to survive this situation with as little casualties as possible.

But some unpleasant groups are ramping up their anti-trans attitudes and online campaigning and have been using the lockdown as an excuse to write to politicians and companies to try and strip Trans and the wider LGBTQ+ communities of our rights. Some of these horrible people are even pretending to be LGB groups.

We all need to take a stand against this invidious influence and their attempts to represent their views as acceptable. They are not, it’s hatred dressed up as concern, manufactured bigotry and outrage masquerading as truth. We’ve heard this all before. We know what lies they have used against our communities for years.  Pride is our historical community response to fighting injustice.  There are no Prides this year, we need to keep visible and use our passion and energy for equality in other ways, to ensure our voices are heard and our lives and rights are respected.

As most of you know, the government is currently looking at implementing the reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, which is coming under huge pressure from anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ groups to roll back equality.  This campaigning is full of misinformation, smears and lies.

A lovely human has created this very useful website called ‘Dear Liz’ to help the trans community and our lovely allies. A guide to write a letter to her and your own MP. Letters really count, really really count. MP’s and parliament take notice of them and their contents, Our enemies know and understand this only to well.  So we need to write. To make the call for fairness and equality, to demand our communities are heard and full equality is extended to our Trans communities across the UK.

The website has all you need to help us, and our friends and supporters to make sure our views are heard by the people, departments and ministers making decisions about our communities future and our very lives.  It has everything you need, from templates, to addresses and questions and answers to help organise a letter writing and media campaign.

All this will be received by Liz Truss, the UK Minister for Women and Equalities, with the aim of informing the current government about the serious issues that have arisen and potential loss of rights to trans people, pertaining to the proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act in the UK.

From the bottom of my heart, I am asking you to spend a moment having a look at the website and then asking  everyone you know to do the same. Please write a letter to Lizz and your local MP and share as much as possible. There are templates available so it won’t take too much of your time. If you can’t write and post you could simply email: You can find out who your MP is here if you don’t know with their contact details etc.If you feel that trans equality and rights has nothing to do with you, do spend a minute to check what is happening worldwide. Patriarchal lobbying groups always start with Trans rights and then one by one move up the ladder of our community. They will not stop until the entire LGBTQ+ community has no rights at all.

We have come a long way, learning about the true meaning of equality and community as we have advanced step by painful step. We know that communities who work together are stronger, we know that equality only means anything when it’s extended to everyone, we also know those who wish us harm do not rest and the forces of prejudge and bigotry are asserting themselves.

We need you to write a letter. Its not a huge ask. Please support this cause now.

 And remember:

You don’t have to be a woman to be a feminist. You don’t have to be LGBTQ+ to fight for equality and human rights. 

You don’t have to be black to fight against racism.  You don’t have to be disabled to fight for accessibility in this world. 

You just need to be a kind human that would rather live in a world where everyone is equal.

If not for you, do it for the future generations.

Stand up and say no to discrimination. No to segregation of minorities.

Yes to equality.

For all.

Yaya Knows Best- Enough is Enough by Emma Rylands

Posted on by Emma Rylands

As I write this piece I look back at all the posts and media coverage that Caroline Flack’s suicide had very rightly gained. All over the internet and mass media, tributes were being paid and messages of ‘be kind’ are all over the place. It is a very sad story and I could not agree more with the ‘be kind’ hashtag. It doesn’t cost anything to be kind and I don’t see the reason why someone has to take their own life before kindness is encouraged.

I do write for Gscene and I do believe in the freedom of speech.

What I do not believe in is the freedom of horrible and vile people, using their privilege and public platforms to promote hate and bigotry. If anything, throughout the years, we have learned that hate breeds hate which subsequently promotes violence and always ends up horribly bad.

Why does the mass media give space to people to be horrible and promote hate?

Why does someone like Dr Kathleen Stock, a professor of philosophy of the University of Sussex, claiming to be a gender critical feminist, have the right to constantly be in the public eye with her transphobic views, express her bigoted ideas on transgender and non-binary humans?

Why does Julie Bindel, a radical feminist who writes for The Guardian, have a platform to promote her hate speech against the trans and non-binary community?

Would the same space be given to a neo-Nazi journalist to promote their hatred for Jewish people, gays, lesbians and minorities? Or would a man from a patriarchal lobbying group be constantly featured in the papers telling us why he thinks that women should not have the right to vote and should get back in the kitchen and let men rule the world? How about a racist having their own TV series telling us every day that black people are not equal?

My advice for Dr Kathleen Stock, Julie Bindel and any other spreader of bigotry and hate, would be to redirect your time, energy and public platforms to some worthy causes and not simply attack a minority group just because it makes you feel more powerful. Are you claiming to be feminists? Have you already solved the equality issues in this society and have you managed to end the gender pay gap? Have you fought the patriarchal lobbying groups and won the fight?

The answer is a simple no. You are fully aware of the issues that need your attention and what is worth fighting for, but you simply choose to very cowardly attack a minority which will get you more press coverage and make you feel more powerful.

Just like kids in a playground, you don’t stand up to the one that appears to be taller and stronger than you, but instead you choose to bully the one that you perceive to be smaller and weaker just because you are bound to look stronger.

But guess what? You are not.

Petition to make the Charities Commission aware of divisive group signed by more than 15,000

Posted on by Emma Rylands

We all have some connection with charities.

Many of us have volunteered and others have donated.

Some have run a marathon and others done a bake sale.

I donate all my clothes to charity shops and my friend sings for free at charity events.

There are all sorts of charities and they all aim to inform, educate, raise money, support, provide assistance, raise awareness, help those in need and be charitable to someone who needs it the most. We might have a favourite charity that we donate to or we might have a dozen.

Are you someone who prefers helping animals which are defenseless against human cruelty, or helping little kids who are suffering from debilitating conditions?

Do you help the aged and the homeless or heart and cancer charities?

We all try our best to help those in need in whichever way we can.

Would you ever support a charity that was set up by the KKK aiming to bring slavery or how about a charity set up by a patriarchal lobbying group trying to get women’s rights rolled back?

Of course you wouldn’t. No-one in their right mind would do that. These are hate groups and even though they do accept donations by fanatics, we would never be part of that.

Would you allow a transphobic hate group to become a charity and accept UK taxpayers money to be used to increase their donations? Of course you wouldn’t.

Well this is your chance to prevent this from happening.

LGB Alliance has applied to become a charity. They are well known for pretending to be all about Lesbian Gay and Bisexual solidarity whilst trying to discriminate and segregate the Trans, Non Binary, Intersex and Queer community.

They are shrill when they insist that they are not anti-trans but everyone laughed at them when they publicly came up with a list of questions to ask your potential political representatives during elections.

One would expect and LGB Alliance “fighting for the rights of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people” to ask questions about reforming outdated UK surrogacy law to make it easier for gay men to start a family; making the HIV-prevention drug PrEP available on the NHS to all who need it (mostly gay and bisexual men); reversing cuts to mental-health services, which would be especially helpful for bisexual women, who have the worst rates of depression and anxiety out of LGB people and are also the most likely to self-harm; erasing the historical convictions of gay men who were criminalised for having consensual sex (71% of applications have been turned down by the Home Office); expanding same-sex marriage to British Overseas Territories including Bermuda, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands; and giving lesbian couples the same access to NHS-funded IVF treatment as heterosexual couples.

But instead, what they advised people to ask their potential political representatives was about stopping children being taught about different gender identities (“confusing and potentially harmful”); removing any references to gender identity or trans issues from schools’ LGBT+ lessons; asking candidates if they are aware of the “dangers of giving experimental medical treatment” to trans kids; banning puberty blockers for trans kids; agreeing that lesbians and gay men should have “the right” not to have sex with trans people; ban trans women from women-only spaces; support LGB groups like the Alliance, who are doing such vital work for the LGB community, to hold meetings; and finally – for Lib Dem candidates only – ask if they still want your vote if you “do not believe that humans can change biological sex”.

There is a petition to make the Charities Commission aware of the hate this group spreads, and  I would ask you to sign it now.

As of this morning more than 15,000 people have voiced their concern at the activities of this group and wish to make sure that the LGBTQ+ community is heard in it’s clear unambiguous views about this so -called  LGB alliance.

The petition states ‘We ask that Baroness Tina Stowell and the Charity Commission considers the views of the LGBT+ community, who wholeheartedly reject the anti-trans views of the LGB Alliance.

LGB Alliance are not fit to be given charitable status and their application must be rejected.’

You can learn more about this petition or share it here

Gscene’s columnist Emma reflects on Transgender Day of Visability

Posted on by Emma Rylands

I was asked to write something about today.

I was asked to have some pictures taken for today.

I had said no.

No to both.  But I need to say something today

There is a pandemic going on and the entire world is suffering. People are dying all over and we are all on lockdown. Key workers around the world are risking their lives to save humanity. From doctors and nurses to refuse collectors, post office workers and supermarket employees, people are out there doing what they have to do so you and I can stay at home to help flatten the curve of new infections and stop this deadly virus.

How can I talk to you about our visibility day when in the last few weeks more than 37 thousand people around the world have been reported dead because of this pandemic. There are almost 30 thousand people currently in critical care who might be dead tomorrow and I’m expected to talk about trans day of visibility?

We are all collectively in the same situation and we are all as vulnerable against this virus. Some are obviously more vulnerable due to their health, age or socioeconomic status, but no one is immune to a pandemic. It is the first time, in my lifetime, where every single person around the world is dealing with exactly the same thing as I am.

And I’m to talk about how I am proud and honoured to be a transgender woman? Or write about the struggles I face on a daily basis just for living my life? Or how about the discrimination, abuse and hate I get from people that do not agree with my existence.

I am not going to write about any of these things and I am not going to celebrate my gender identity today because I might be dead tomorrow. My family might be dead tomorrow. My friends might be dead tomorrow.

I am however going to tell you that during this pandemic when we are all in danger, there are people out there profiteering by this situation. They are taking advantage of the fact that the whole world’s attention is on Coronavirus while they carry on with their vile and discriminatory work.

Yesterday in Idaho governor Brad Little signed two   anti-transgender bills into law. One of them being about transgender girls not being allowed to participate in sport at school. There are schools closed all around the world and he now found the right opportunity to discriminate and segregate little trans girls.

Here in the UK a trans hate group called LGB Alliance has applied to become a charity. While so many charities around the world are struggling whilst trying to help those in need, this group of biggoted discriminating narrow minded people who are segregating and excluding trans people are applying to become an actual charity. Where UK tax monies will then be used to increase to their donations. There is a petition to make the Charities Commission aware of the hate this group spread, I’d urge you to sign it now.

We are currently going through and trying to survive  unprecedented times.

People around the world have come together to support one another and to try and help those in need. Kind humans are volunteering everywhere and we are all together praying for this pandemic to end as soon as possible and with as little fatalities as possible. Now is not the time to take advantage of this situation and spread your hate.

To all my fellow humans, be strong, be kind and be patient. This shall pass.

To all the key workers, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Stay safe, Emma.

Putting the T First! Trans Pride Brighton 2020 save the date!

Posted on by Emma Rylands

Trans Pride Brighton have just announced their date for 2020. As always they aim to promote equality and diversity through visibility, educate and eliminate discrimination that the community faces, and celebrate the unique history along with gender diversity.

Trans Pride Brighton has been running since 2013 and provides a great day where trans people, friends, allies and family can meet and have an amazing time in a fun and safe space. The Brighton and Hove event is the biggest Trans Pride event in the UK and continues to grow and attract people from across the UK and wider afield.

Full programme and events to be announced soon. If it’s anything like last year, a whole week of educational and spectacular events leading up to the march and park event is guaranteed.

Emphasis should be given to the word march which is used instead of parade. At Trans Pride Brighton we march for equality. We march for our rights. And we march to make the rest of the world aware of our existence and the need to be seen and heard as a community that faces constant discrimination and abuse on a daily basis.

So go on and save the date. More info on twitter – @TPrideBrighton

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day.

Posted on by Emma Rylands

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day. This day was first celebrated in 1911 and it belongs to all groups collectively, it is not country, group or organisation specific, and no government, NGO, charity, corporation, academic institution, women’s network or media hub is solely responsible for International Women’s Day.

Tomorrow we are celebrating women.

We are celebrating the cultural, social, economic and political achievements of women. We are championing women of all backgrounds who dare to innovate, lead, and uplift others towards a more equal and inclusive workplace. We are celebrating women’s achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality. We are supporting women to earn and learn on their own terms and in their own way.

We are celebrating digital advancement and championing women forging innovation through technology. We are assisting women to be in a position of power for making informed decisions about their health. We are celebrating women athletes and applauding when equality is achieved in pay, sponsorship and visibility. We are increasing the visibility of women creatives and promoting their work for commercial projects.

A woman can be temperamental, resolute, astute, nurturing, strong, adaptable, noble, daring, naughty, obedient, talented, tenacious, empathetic, radiant, dauntless, passionate, assertive, faithful, brave, powerful, imperfect, courageous, grateful, honest, hospitable, gracious, genuine, honourable, humble, kind, fair, wise, blessed, confident, joyful, creative and virtuous.

A woman can be American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, White. A woman can be Mixed or belong to other ethnic groups. A woman can be bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual or asexual.

A woman can have a mental or physical disability. A woman can be a mother or not. A woman can be a wife or not. A woman can be non binary.

She can be none of these things.

There is no one definition of what a woman should or shouldn’t be.

No one can tell you what you can or can’t be.

  • Women are not reduced to their genitals.
  • Women are not judged based on their DNA.
  • Women are not defined by biology.

Tomorrow we are celebrating women. This year’s campaign, #EachForEqual, draws attention to the difference individuals can make.

You can learn more here: 

R-E-S-P-E-C-T-celebrating Ms Claudette Colvin

Posted on by Emma Rylands

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Today we celebrate Ms Claudette Colvin, an 80 year old retired American nurse aide who was a pioneer of the 1950s Civil Rights Movement. 65 years ago today on March 2nd 1955 Ms Colvin  aged 15, was arrested in Montgomery Alabama for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded segregated bus.

In 1955 Colvin was a student at a segregated High School and she relied on the city’s buses to get to and from school, because her parents didn’t own a car. The majority of passengers on the busses those days were African-American, but they were discriminated against by its custom of segregated seating. On March 2, 1955, Ms Colvin was returning home from school. She sat in the colored section in the back, knowing that If the bus became so crowded that all the “white seats” in the front of the bus were filled until white people were standing, any African Americans were supposed to get up from nearby seats to make room for whites, move further to the back, and stand in the aisle if there were no free seats in that section.

When a white woman who got on the bus was left standing in the front, the bus driver commanded Ms Colvin to move to the back. When she refused, the police were called who handcuffed, forcibly removed this 15 year old girl and arrested her. While Ms Colvin was refusing to get up, she was thinking about a school paper she had written that day about the local custom that prohibited blacks from using the dressing rooms in order to try on clothes in department stores. “We couldn’t try on clothes. You had to take a brown paper bag and draw a diagram of your foot and take it to the store” she later said. Referring to the segregation on the bus and the white woman she said: “She couldn’t sit in the same row as us because that would mean we were as good as her”.

This incident happened 9 months before the well known similar incident with Rosa Parks but Ms Colvin was advised to keep quiet as she did not have ‘good hair’, she was not fair skinned, she was a teenager and she got pregnant. The leaders in the Civil Rights Movement tried to keep up appearances and make the ‘most appealing’ protesters the most seen.

Colvin’s moment of activism was not solitary or random. In high school, she had high ambitions of political activity. She dreamed of becoming the president of the United States. Her political inclination was fueled in part by an incident with her schoolmate, Jeremiah Reeves. Reeves was found having sex with a white woman who claimed she was raped though Reeves claims their relations were consensual. He was executed for his alleged crimes.

As we celebrate this remarkable human, I can’t help wondering what she would think of Linda Bellos. This veteran black British lesbian activist recently travelled to America to speak outside the US Supreme Court, along with right wing Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, backing the Trump administration’s efforts to make it legal to fire LGBTQ+ people.

Emma Rylands

 

Reflections on Transgender Day of Remembrance in the city.

Posted on by Emma Rylands

Emma Rylands, Gscene contributor, activist and member of Rainbow Chorus +, spoke at the Dorset Gardens TDOR service on Sunday 17th November.

The Gscene team asked Emma to share what she had said at the Dorset Gardens TDOR event.  She spoke along with other community activists and people who have been working with Trans and Non-Binary communities in the city. We share Emma’s words  with some photo’s from both the remembrance and celebration events from last weekend.

Emma said:

“Two years ago, I attended my first ever trans remembrance event, at this very place. I had only just started living my life as my true self, and after 42 years of feeling like a stranger in my own body, I was finally starting to enjoy being me.

I sat here, with tears in my eyes, and I  listened to everyone. It was a very moving occasion and when the time came to pick up a card (bearing the name of someone who had died in the previous year)  and stick it on the wall I joined the queue.

I will always remember what the card said.

Unknown

How can someone who has been killed just for being themselves be unknown.

Are they not someone’s child, someone’s sibling, someone’s parent or someone’s partner?

Were they unknown because they were so brutally beaten to death, that no-one could recognise them?

Or maybe, their family threw them out for being trans and they were homeless when they were murdered.

We will  never know because they are unknown.

I left that day and spent a whole week at home feeling afraid and vulnerable. I could not go out because I was scared.

I thought that maybe living my life as my true self and being me was not such a good idea.

Was it worth it?

Is it worth being me and risking my life. I thought I would be happier when I decided to transition but what if people were going to hate me simply for being who I am.

I spent the rest of the year being quiet. I thought if I didn’t draw any attention to myself I could get by and no-one would bother me. I didn’t want to be a name on a card.

Last year I was here again. I was afraid that I would break down and end up even more depressed than I already was.

But something changed.

I picked up a card and placed it on the wall. I looked at the name and said  ‘you died for being you’

You were killed for living your life. You were not afraid to be who you are.”

 

“I should honour you and respect you by carrying on.

I will do my best to live my life and be who I am. I will not be afraid.

I will not be silenced.

I will live every day thinking of you. Your life was cut short so I must live for you as well.

There will always be people who hate us. And there will always be people who will harm us.

We will be attacked and we will be abused.

But we must not stop.”

“We must carry on and we must live our lives to the fullest. Let’s go out there and show them that we are here. We have always been here and we will always be here.

For every person that hates you, there are hundreds that love you and will look after you. We are very lucky to have allies who will always be by our side.

Don’t waste your time replying to Facebook or Twitter posts. Use that time to go out and live your life.

And always honour and remember those that are not here today. They would have wanted us to live and be happy.

All the people that we are  remembering and honouring today, every day, and every year, were killed because they were visible.

Let us help them rest in power by being visible. Being loud. Being happy. Being unique. And Being ourselves.

Thank you.”

 

London celebrates inaugural Trans Pride

Posted on by Emma Rylands
Emma Rylands
Emma Rylands

The first ever National Trans Pride took place in London yesterday (Sept 14). It was a combined protest and celebration that enabled participants to walk the streets of London with no fear.

PEOPLE gathered at Wellington Arch and marched along Piccadilly, all the way to Soho Square. The roads were closed off and even though police presence was visible, it blended with the crowds in a non invasive way.

Due to protests from TERDs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Discriminators) at London Pride 2018 and Manchester Pride 2019, the route was not published in advance, and no such incidents were reported.

It was a glorious sunny day in London and the air was filled with love and hope for the future. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and I was so proud to march along with my trans and non binary siblings, and all the cis allies who came to show their support.

Reports estimate that there were about 1500 participants but while marching and being cheered on by the crowds and London commuters, to me it felt like every single person in London was taking part.

The people were chanting about equality and acceptance which unfortunately are not a given for the trans community. Recent reports suggest that transphobic hate crimes are on the rise.

The number of transgender hate crimes recorded by police forces in England, Scotland and Wales has risen by 81% and the trans community is constantly featured in the news as a debatable subject.

It is astonishing and shameful that in 2019, there are people continuously discussing and arguing the existence and rights of the trans community in the media.

Some people ask why there is even a separate Trans Pride when there’s Pride once a year.

Annual prides around the world celebrate how far our communities have come to being equal. Trans prides are still fighting and protesting for equality and everything that others already achieved and now take for granted.

Brighton Trans Pride recently celebrate it’s seventh birthday with ever growing numbers. London Trans Pride has only just started but I am certain that, like Trans Pride Brighton, every year it will get bigger and better.

The crowds continued to march through Soho ending up in Soho square were prominent Trans, Non Binary and Queer activists spoke about the struggles and the future hope for the community.

I hope that things will get better. Transphobic abuse and hate crimes need to be reduced now. NHS waiting times need to decrease now. Positive visibility of the Trans Community has to increase now. Equality has to be available for all.

If you were not at Trans Pride London, you don’t have to wait until next year to fight for equality. We can do this on a daily basis by showing love, respect and acceptance to our siblings. Listen to one another and support those in need.

Trans Rights Are Human Rights.

Trans Lives Matter.

Soho Square
Soho Square

Photographs by Eric Page

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