an interview with Trans Pride Scotland
Under current circumstances, keeping activism and community spirit alive can be a challenge. Trans Pride Scotland, however, have taken this in their stride, and are coordinating an online Pride event on Saturday 17th October. In this interview, our Editor-in-Chief Rachel Baker chats to the organisation's secretary Lena Avery about the necessity of Trans Pride, the way in which their event will run, and the many issues that Trans folk face in the world today.
Mx: Tell us a bit about how you came to facilitate Trans Pride Scotland.
Lena: My first experience with Trans Pride was attending their first event in 2018. I was a year into my transition at this point, and I was extremely excited by the idea as this was the first ever Trans specific Pride event in Scotland. I had attended larger Pride events before, but I had a really specific connection with Trans Pride as it was very much the community made vibe of the event that I enjoyed. Trans Pride have it written into their contract to operate free from large sponsorships, in order to avoid the capitalisation of LGBTQ+ issues that has tainted many larger Pride events, and so it wasn’t put together or feature rich, as such, but just a brilliant place for mixing with a community that can often be difficult to find.
At that first event I already had a gaggle of folk following me, and so I took that affinity for leadership and harnessed it in my other work. I went on to do other advocacy work for Trans folk, including speaking to the Endocrinology Society at Edinburgh University about the vast benefits of hormone therapy on the Trans community.
I started working for Trans Pride after I went to Japan for a year to teach English. On returning, I realised that I wanted to reconnect with the LGBTQ+ community directly, as my year in Japan was quite alienating. There isn’t an absence of LGBTQ+ folk there, as such, but it it’s less organised and more difficult to find.
Mx: Why is it that you feel Trans Pride needs specific visibility with LGBTQ+ discourse?
Lena: This is an important question as, on the face of it, it can seem like fragmentation. But this isn’t the case. Within the LGBTQ+ community there are a lot of different groups and interests pushing this way and that. Pretty much everyone I have spoken to who runs Pride events say that it is important to combine these identities in order to unite – in this way we can show in solidarity and, thus, strength.
The thing is, when these unions happen, there Is huge diversity in attendance. But there are many Trans specific issues that cannot find a place in the larger LGBTQ+ discussion, and so at our events we offer a space for any non cis-gendered identities. This includes Trans people, intersex and non-binary identifying individuals.
Mx: What would you say, then, are the main Trans specific issues that the community faces in the UK?
Lena: the biggest one in the news is the recently announced results on a consultation of gender identity certificates. There was one that ran in 2018, and another in 2019, and the results of these consultations specifically affect a person’s ability to get a new gender certificate. Many Trans folk’s legal gender is incorrect, and so it can be problematic for a plethora of essential things including medical services, getting married and the use of official documents. If someone is not officially recognised as their correct gender it can be embarrassing, or even dangerous, to have essential documents with the wrong gender detailed on them.
There is also the discussion of medical processes as it relates to Trans folk, such as the medical interventions of transitioning. The NHS pipeline to accessing gender affirming treatment is overloaded, to the point that Trans people in the UK can wait up to four years to receive any sort of treatment, often while our bodies are changing in uncomfortable ways with no way to stop it. Also, if you don’t have access to the specific knowledge required to transition, medically, then it can be difficult to get started. And so, access to information on medical interventions is a real challenge for folk that are early on in their transition.
The prevalence of transphobia from a variety of groups is also a huge issue, which a surge in transphobic conversations on Twitter in 2020. Although these transphobes are a vast minority, they are very vocal and amplified via social media.
Mx: Has there been any backlash of this kind against Trans Pride Scotland?
Lena: there has been no direct harassment campaigns aimed at Trans Pride Scotland specifically, however we have members of the community who have been jumped on online about issues of gender reassignment and gender certificates. There was an internet cold war going on recently between Trans groups and a lot of Trans exclusionary feminist groups. A lot of these people were arguing against easier transition processes, with the notion that this would result in ‘men’ invading women’s spaces.
This was an over arching issue for Trans folk in 2018 and 2019 that the Scottish Trans community has been fighting against. The rhetoric of this idea that Trans women are ‘men’ invading women’s spaces has been weaponised for a long time. Although it is outdated, it is still used as a scare tactic by many transphobic groups, and so this is an exhausting time for Trans people in the face of this.
Mx: In light of this, that suggests there is more need than ever for events such as this. Tell us a bit more about the upcoming event, online, for Trans Pride Scotland.
Lena: so, we have 15 performers, and they are the main hook for the event so that we can cross promote with the performers’ individual communities. There is a consistent conversation, surrounding any Pride event, about whether it is a protest or a party; should Pride be a legal space for folk to speak up and close the gap of inequality, or is it a place to celebrate being happy in your identity, and to be open about your marginalised identity free from bigotry. We have often leander more on the party side, hence why the centre of our event is the performers, but we want to, overall, meet somewhere in the middle of these ideas. We have the performers so that we can come together and have a good time, but we also want to be a space where we can discuss legal issues and provide advice for those who need it.
In addition to the performers we have workshops running from Pink Saltire and Women Out at Work (WOW Network), as well as breakout rooms available in order to simulate the experience of running intro strangers at Pride.
Mx: Whether it be the performers from the event or anyone else, what Trans creatives are particularly inspirational to you?
Lena: Bonni Black from the line-up is a really great pop punk artist we have performing, who has a really nice vibe that very much goes with the party element of the event. Molly Weird is also on there and she does great acoustic music with piano, guitar and voice.
Personally, a big inspiration in my own transition was the work for Laura Kate Dale, a Trans video game journalist who has gone on to talk about grown up Trans and on the autism spectrum. It’s great to have that voice out in the world because it’s a very common intersection.
Another great artist is Left At London, who are great because they don’t shy away from the bad and the good elements of being Trans.
Mx: What actions can allies take to support progress towards equality for Trans communities?
Lena: I am glad this is a question that is coming up more and more often. The best way is to follow our accounts, our blogs, keep an eye on news about us and, when there is an issue in traction, just give it a share. If you want to comment that’s fine, but we always say that the best way you can help is by boosting our voices.
By nature, because of safety, and because of lack of recognition, Trans communities are insular. So, as an ally, you can help us feel safer by speaking out about wider political issues as much as possible. If possible, share the voices of Trans people in order to elevate us outside of the communities where we most commonly operate.
Off the internet, and in the real-world sphere, if you hear what could be passed off as a joke at the expense of a Trans person, if you feel safe to so – speak up about us. Try to help as out even if we are not present and part of the conversation. This is essential because it is only when we start accepting that Trans identities are not to be joked about that we will see wider change. We can have acceptance, but that acceptance can’t just be when we are in the room. If we get wider societal acceptance then this is when we can see change. Because, then it’s not just asking for change – it’s wider society too.
You can find more about Trans Pride Scotland and donate to their cause through their website.
If you would like to take part in their upcoming event on Saturday 17th October then you can sign up for access through this form.