The BDO has always welcomed members of the LGBTQ+ community. As it says in the very first booklet of our bardic course:
“We recognise that gender is not, and never has been, a simple binary consisting solely of male and female. Some are transgender, some non-gendered, others are gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transvestite, or otherwise queer. The BDO is open to people of any or all genders and sexual orientations. We do not discriminate on the basis of people’s genitalia or what they do with them, so long as they do no harm to others.”
Despite once appearing on stage with a rainbow Pride flag during his 2016 election campaign, since being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on 20th January this year, Donald Trump has enacted a series of anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders, many of which specifically target the transgender community. Spearheading his anti-queer agenda, he has declared it as the official policy of the United States government that there are “only two sexes.” Beyond it’s clear intention to make everyday life as difficult as possible for the trans community, this ignores the approximately 1 in 2,000 people who are intersex, that is born with sexual characteristics that are neither obviously or solely male or female. I had hoped we might avoid this kind of deliberately divisive rhetoric here in the UK. No such luck.
In a triumph for bigotry, on April 16th, the UK supreme court quashed the Scottish government’s attempt to legislate in favour of the human rights of transgender people in Scotland by essentially following Donald Trump’s lead. Before coming to the unanimous decision that only one’s ‘biological sex’ at birth has any status under law and that, therefore, trans women are not women at all, the court took ‘evidence’ from several anti-trans groups but never heard a single word from a trans woman or man. Although aimed at Scotland in particular, this ruling covers the whole of the UK.
Judge, Lord Hodge, said the ruling “should not be seen as a triumph of one side over the other” and stressed that the law still gives protection against discrimination to transgender people. This is somewhat disingenuous to say the least, given that the ruling quite clearly drives a coach and horses through all previous legislation that granted rights to the trans community. It means, for example, that trans women will now face the humiliation of having to use male toilets in public places. Trans women who are abused by their partners will no longer be able to access women’s refuges to keep them safe from harm. Trans women will be strip searched by male police officers. And so on and on.
Further putting the lie to the judge’s statement, the ruling has been greeted with triumphant celebration by anti-trans activists and with tears and despair by the trans community. My own daughter wept on the bus on her way to work after the ruling was announced. She is one of the nicest, most sensitive, gentle souls I know and already has to negotiate other people’s ignorance and intolerance on a daily basis. She is, I should add, one of the ‘front-line workers’ we all cheered for at the height of the Covid pandemic. Now the UK legislature has made a ruling that effectively renders her a non-person in all public spaces. Shame on them.
An already deeply depressing situation has been made worse by triumphalist statements about the court’s ruling from the UK’s ironically-named ‘Equality and Human Rights Commissioner,’ an anti-trans woman named Kishwer Falkner. Shame on her too.
Successive UK governments have promoted the idea that tolerance and inclusivity are core British values. At the same time, they have been dramatically eroding human rights and civil liberties. Thatcher crushed the trade union movement and decimated British industry. Blair attacked socialism, marginalised the left and led us into a catastrophic war against the wishes of the majority of the population. Cameron and his successors outlawed previously legal avenues for effective protest. This latest attack targets the trans community. Who’s next? It could be me. It could be you. Standing up for the rights of minorities increases the chances of preserving rights for us all.
In conclusion, I’d like to stress again that the BDO welcomes persons of all genders and sexual orientations. Always have and always will. If this offends you – tough. Now please enjoy the two joyous, uplifting and celebratory videos below. They’re brilliant!
For love, life, light and liberty,
Greywolf /|\
(BDO founder)