First up, I'm a member of the Labour party. I'm not active these days but I do know that on issues like LGBTQ+ rights, especially Trans rights, the issue is multi layered and complex. First, there's the need to win seats in order to win the majority. Then there's the extremely diverse party membership, which is different to almost every other party because it brings together people from such varied backgrounds. Obviously, Labour started as the party for workers and then took on social issues so liberalism doesn't always come naturally. But the party is also home to feminists who have done amazing work in the past for which we should all be grateful but have become sick on this issue - and also feminists like myself who view Trans rights as an extension of and not a barrier to women's rights. Then there's others caucuses within the party who aren't particularly liberal about anything to do with LGBTQ+ issues. Other groups who believe that the only focus should be their issues. Others who think that some issues should be left to individuals to decide for themselves and it shouldn't be party policy at all. So it's not as simple as pointing to one person who happens to be the leader and saying "if be becomes PM then X, Y or Z".
I haven't said any of this to get into a debate about any kind of politics. I've made my stance clear. I don't have a hotline to anyone influential! I know what it was like, banging our heads against a brick wall trying to get LGBT policy passed at party conference, never mind legislation. But we slowly chipped away and we slowly won. And I believe that will happen with Trans rights, too. But it won't while we have a Tory government. It took a Labour government to lead the change on gender, race, disability and sexuality. It will take a Labour government to do the same for Trans and non binary people. It won't be easy. It never is. It won't be linear progress, either. But it will happen, despite the opposition, because no matter how long it takes, Trans people aren't going anywhere. You're in our families and communities and workplaces and sports teams and social groups and on our TVs and radios and I'm the supermarket queues and sitting next to us at school and on the bus and serving in shops and making us laugh and sharing your stories and slowly, slowly eroding the ignorance and bigotry.
