Pay Attention to Young Trans Activists
As trans people increasingly become tools for various politicos, it’s important that we uplift the voices of the young trans people most affected by draconian anti-trans legislation.
Young activist scales Department for Education HQ to recover banner that reads "We are not pawns for your politics" (Credit: Alyx Bedwell, "What the Trans?!")
Opinion by Alyssa Steinsiek
Over the weekend, UK pro-trans activist group Trans Kids Deserve Better staged an occupation of the UK Department for Education headquarters… but unless you keep up with a few very specific news outlets or trans journalists, there’s a good chance you didn’t read a single word about it.
Thanks to the fabulous What the Trans!? UK podcast team members’ live tweeting efforts on Friday the 23rd, we got to see some of the occupation ourselves! Coverage on Friday revealed a host of fantastic protest signs (my personal favorite was “It’s not the waking, it’s the rising,” a quote from a powerful Hozier song, in the colors of the trans flag), a communal meal shared among occupiers and supporters, and somewhat harrowing sleeping conditions for protestors that involved covering mesh gratings with cardboard to sleep on.
Days two and three of the occupation were, seemingly, uneventful. Occupiers occupied, supporters supported, another communal meal was had. What the Trans!? co-host Alyx uploaded a fantastic interview with several occupiers from the Department for Education, who explained the purpose of their demonstration.
“People aren’t really listening to our actual voices. People aren’t really humanizing us. They’re treating us like some kind of debate or ideology instead of actual people,” said one demonstrator.
“It’s revolting, honestly,” said another demonstrator of Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s decision to make permanent the once temporary ban on private practices prescribing puberty blockers in the UK. “We have made our case, we have told them what this is doing to us … and how [they are] denying healthcare to children who desperately need it, and they are not listening to us.”
Activists embrace one another after recovering their banner (Credit: Alyx Bedwell, "What the Trans?!")
As of the writing of this article, Trans Kids Deserve Better are still protesting outside of the Department for Education headquarters. There’s no telling how long they’ll keep it up and how much attention they’ll garner. This isn’t the first time they’ve organized a demonstration to raise awareness for the demands of trans youth, either.
Legal researcher and journalist Jess O’Thomson, writing for Trans Writes, laid out a helpfully thorough explanation of the activist group’s last demonstration in July, in which they scaled the walls of the NHS England building in South East London. There the young activists delivered a series of speeches decrying long wait lists for gender-affirming care, making it clear that the primary antagonist in their fight for the care they needed was the British government.
Unfortunately, UK mass media has opted to ignore these daring and dedicated displays by pro-trans activists, for the most part. If you search for coverage on either of these protests, mostly you will find small outlets or trans journalists reporting. Diva Magazine covered this weekend’s protest and interviewed some of the protestors. So did Freedom News, a radical cooperative anarchist press.
July’s daredevil demonstration, inspiring more attractive headlines for publication, was covered by Dazed, The Tab, PinkNews, and Yahoo! News UK.
Considering just how many headlines the mere existence of trans people generates in the UK press, it’s almost obscene how disinterested they are in reporting on these young activists. Perhaps it’s as simple as the old adage, “if it bleeds, it leads,” and hopeful stories about brave young people standing up for themselves and supporting each other just don’t interest the BBC. Or perhaps showcasing these demonstrations would be too much of a thorn in the side of the new Labour government.
It’s impossible to say for sure. But what can be said for sure is that more journalists should be covering these demonstrations. While we wait for established English journos to get off their butts and do that, you—yes you, dear reader—can visit Trans Kids Deserve Better’s Instagram and website to learn more about their goals and desires, and keep up with their activities.
Brave young people like these are, indisputably, the future. We at Assigned Media salute and support them, and we hope you do too!
Alyssa Steinsiek is a professional writer who spends too much time playing video games!
