LGBTQ

In the justified storm of criticism following the Morning Star ’s publication of an anti-trans open letter, a number of critical open letters have been circulated in response. One is headed ” Morning Star readers against transphobia” . It is good that this letter has criticised the Morning Star ’s consistent record of giving houseroom to transphobia. It makes those points well. But it couches its criticisms in lavish praise of the paper. Its signatories say they “wholeheartedly support and champion the Morning Star ”, and that it “makes a vital contribution to the British labour movement”. In...

While he isn’t perfect and I don’t idolise him, Peter Tatchell is one of my heroes. He has consistently put his own safety on the line for the sake of human rights, especially LGBT+ rights. In 2007 he suffered brain damage and lost sight in one of his eyes after being beaten by Russian Nazis. In 1973, he attended the World Youth Festival in East Berlin and after taking the stage to speak about gay rights in East Germany, he was interrogated by the Stasi, and threatened and assaulted by delegates from the Communist Parties. Last week Tatchell was briefly detained in Moscow after holding a one...

This Friday, 14 June, a trans student and pro-trans activist, Nic Shall, will face the University of Bristol’s disciplinary board for writing an open letter to the University calling for the cancellation of the “A Woman’s Place UK” (WPUK) event in Bristol. WPUK are an organisation campaigning against proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA). These reforms would allow trans people to change the gender on their birth certificates by self-declaration without requiring a medical diagnosis through a long, intrusive, expensive and degrading procedure. More broadly WPUK oppose gender self...

This book that is simultaneously poignant, thought-provoking, ground-breaking and refreshingly honest. Subtitled as ‘A Trans and Non-Binary Guide to Intimacy, Pleasure and Relationships,’ Queer Sex is really a first foray into the possibilities of trans sexuality, intimacy and desire. This foray dovetails with Roche’s own experiences as a trans woman seeking intimacy and fulfilling sexual relationships. As Roche illustrates very clearly, for some trans people, the genitals and sexual organs they were born with may be seen by themselves or by society as a “problem” to be mitigated with hormone...

Based on some of the direct experience of its director Robin Campillo, 120 bpm is an affecting drama about ACT UP Paris. ACT UP was formed in 1987 in New York but chapters spread across the US and Europe based on a militant, direct action approach to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. At the centre of this film is the relationship between two members — Sean, a founder member, HIV+, angry and militant and the new recruit Nathan, quieter, HIV- and new to the activist world. We see the Parisian group protest against Mitterrand’s government’s laissez-faire attitude to sex education and its role in a...

This is a discussion document which forms the background to agreeing policy in the AWL; the document seeks to reflect the areas where there is substantial consensus, rather than the discrete areas of difference and some differences of emphasis.

Download pdf or read online .

In January 2018, US President Donald Trump cancelled a planned trip to the UK. His stated reason was that the famously unsuccessful realtor didn’t fancy the “off-location” US Embassy. But the real reason was almost certainly that Trump wanted to duck the huge wave of protest that anyone could see would meet any visit. The racist, authoritarian and climate-change-denying policies of the Trump administration stoked a storm of indignation and a series of huge rallies at the very suggestion of his visit. In mid-April 2018, Trump announced a new trip to the UK, for a “working meeting” with Theresa...

According to reports on social media over 200 women are planning a ″mass resignation″ from the Labour Party over the party′s stance on including trans women on all-women shortlists. A group calling itself ″Mayday4Women″ says they ″have over 200 women (100-plus happy to be named, 100-plus anonymous) who intend to collectively resign should the next National Executive Committee meeting pass self-identification for All-Women shortlists″. On their Facebook page the group repeatedly refer to the issue as being one of ″men self-identifying onto All-Women Shortlists″. The mass resignation was...

On 27 January, 12 trans women were arrested in Aceh province in Indonesia and made to undergo a “re-education programme”. They were subjected to beatings, had their hair forcibly cut, were stripped and forced to wear men′s clothes, and otherwise humiliated. Trans women are reportedly fleeing the province, an area with an autonomous status meaning it can have some of its own laws, including on homosexuality. Many run beauty salons which have been shut fearing a wave of attacks after far-right and Islamist organisations put out calls for regular Friday protests to ″cleanse the province″. The...