Trans Rights Under Attack Worldwide

TGEU stands in solidarity with the trans community in this difficult period globally, and especially with Black trans people. The attacks coming from different institutions and public figures towards trans people and their rights are devastating. 

In the United Kingdom, after years of strong backlash and public figures such as J. K. Rowling sharing anti-trans arguments, the government has announced their intention to not support self-determination for the revision of the Gender Recognition Act and withdraw access to healthcare for minors. In the United States, the Trump administration has revoked protection against discrimination in healthcare for trans people and will refer only to sex as a protected ground, understanding sex as “biologically determined,” and therefore explicitly excluding gender identity. In Spain, we are observing historical allies like the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) publicly turn their back on trans people by publishing a transphobic paper last week that invalidates trans people’s gender and explicitly rejects the right to self-determination. At the end of May, the Hungarian government outlawed legal gender recognition for trans people.

While all of this is happening, trans people continue to be murdered daily. Data from the Trans Murder Monitoring project shows that most of the murder victims are trans women of colour, two of them reported just last week in the US.

All of these attacks directly target human rights that translate into a threat to the dignity, safety, and survival of trans people.  TGEU will continue working to dismantle transphobia and supporting trans communities across the European and Central Asian region to overcome these growing challenges.

Community building, collective action, and advocacy are essential. Just today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that employment discrimination based on gender identity is prohibited by existing sex protections — a direct result of legal and policy advocacy led by trans organisations and activists. Trans lives are at stake, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to ensure a society that respects, values, and celebrates trans lives.