Fourteen trans activists from the Trans Kids Deserve Better, all aged 18 or under, have occupied the Department for Education’s (DfE) Westminster headquarters to protest for “the right to a safe and inclusive education, and the rights of trans youth and adults”. Besides the occupation, hundreds of people have demonstrated outside the building in solidarity with their cause.
The protest, which began on Friday, follows a decision by Health Secretary Wes Streeting on August 22nd to extend the ban on access to puberty blockers, alongside the drafting of guidance from the Department of Education [explainer pdf here] that activists claim, if implemented, would “potentially violate the Equality Act and harm a whole generation of trans and non-binary children”.
The occupation aims to “underscore the urgent need for policy changes that respect and protect the rights of trans youth, including their rights to autonomy, safety, trust, respect and inclusion”. Their occupation of the Department of Education is intended to continue for multiple days.
In a press release, the protesters called for:
- Autonomy: “We deserve to make our own decisions about our social transition, and about who gets to know about it.”
- Priority: “Our comfort and safety deserve to take priority over theoretical disapproval from people who are unaffected by us.”
- Safety: “We should be protected from transphobic bullying and harassment, including misgendering and deadnaming.”
- Trust and respect: “Our identities are not up for debate, and shouldn’t be subject to any external validation.”
- Inclusion: “Who we are is not a contested ideology, and our reality should be reflected in what we learn about in school.”
According to charity Just Like Us, research conducted by Cibyl showed 10% of trans children said they were bullied daily, and 54% had experienced bullying in the past year, compared to just 21% of their non-LGBT+ peers. At the same time, only 19% of young transgender people reported feeling optimistic about the future weekly, compared to 36% of their non-transgender peers, and 15% of transgender young people said they had never felt optimistic about the future in the past 12 months.
