- Conference
- 2022 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 22 February 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
The toxic debate ignited by the government’s consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act underlined the importance of our union supporting and representing trans members effectively.
Attacks on trans people have escalated further over the last year. There has been a sustained attack on Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme and repeated false claims that Stonewall is misinterpreting the Equality Act’s protected characteristic of gender reassignment in its advice to organisations. Attacks are being coordinated to undermine support for Stonewall’s work on LGBT+ equality at work.
The tactics being used, particularly the vilification of trans women, by those campaigning to roll back the existing rights of trans people, including ‘gender critical’ and anti-trans groups, are almost identical to the tactics seen around the time of Section 28, when gay men were portrayed as sexual predators and a danger to children to spread fear and mistrust.
In January 2022 the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued two public statements, in response to plans to legislate for a ban on conversion therapy in England and Wales, and Gender Recognition Act reform in Scotland, which effectively seek to exclude trans people from improved rights and protections. Following this, a coalition of 19 LGBT+ organisations led by Stonewall made a detailed submission to the UN Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions stating their belief that the EHRC no longer meets the minimum international requirements of a top tier national Human Rights institution and calling for a special review of the EHRC’s ‘A’ rating.
Further, Conference recognises that recent years have seen a concerted international campaign against trans people, and there is growing evidence of this being linked to the far right and the religious-right.
Conference notes that:
1)The Southern Poverty Law Centre in the United States (US) reported that in 2017, at an annual right-wing, fundamentalist event called the Values Voter Summit, transphobia was discussed as a tactic to be deployed, because rallying against homosexuals was not working any more. One of the far-right panellists said: “Trans and gender identity are a tough sell, so focus on gender identity to divide and conquer…trans activists need the gay rights movement to help legitimize them…If you separate the T from the alphabet soup, we’ll have more success”;
2)The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation’s study on the evolution of extremism in the first 100 days of the Biden administration found that “Transphobia has long been one of the most major and ubiquitous narratives around which the far right mobilises… Transphobia should be recognised as a security concern.”;
3)Some anti-trans individuals and groups in the United Kingdom have links with far fight and alt right religious groups in the US and elsewhere;
4)Targeting a minority and spreading false information to provoke hatred and distrust by preying on people’s fears, are classic far right recruitment tactics.
UNISON’s position is clear: trans women are women, trans men are men and non- binary identities are valid. Conference recognises, however, that UNISON now needs to become more visible and more vocal – be louder and prouder – in promoting trans equality.
Conference therefore calls on the National Executive Council to work with the National LGBT+ Committee and other parts of the union as appropriate to:
a)Explore ways to increase the strength and visibility of UNISON’s work to promote Trans equality inside and outside the union;
b)Continue to promote Trans ally training;
c)Encourage branches to urge employers to become members of the Stonewall Diversity Champions programme if they are not already members;
d)Produce and promote materials to help members counter the gender critical narrative and provide information on the links with the far right and the religious right;
e)Continue to campaign for reform of the GRA.