This is an update written by Strath Union’s LGBT+ Rep, and outgoing and incoming Disabled Students' Reps, in response to the transphobic Supreme Court Ruling and EHRC Guidance in April this year. 

Over the past few months, we have been heavily involved in protecting the rights of our trans students, and the community more widely. In May, we attended the NUS National Trans Rights Action Day in Manchester as representatives from Strath Union and have been working hard to implement a combined action plan with the representatives from the NUS and other unions. We had the opportunity to meet many students from across the UK who were equally outraged by the recent Supreme Court ruling and the following guidance that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published. As such, we wanted to take this opportunity to express our immense disappointment at the recent attempts to undermine and discriminate against trans people across the UK. However, our actions as part of a wider movement have resulted in a great number of supportive responses to the EHRC consultation from the academic sector. We have been working closely with Strathclyde’s Senior Officers Team and StrathPride network to make sure trans staff and students are properly represented in the university’s response. 

We call on the EHRC to withdraw its hastily drafted and politically biased interim guidance immediately. It is harmful, unworkable, and based on the erroneous belief that the trans community poses a danger to society. Furthermore, should the advice in its current form be laid before parliament at a later date, we call on MPs to resolve not to approve it. 

Let us be clear: what the EHRC are doing is segregation. An attempt to paint a vulnerable community as a danger. We all know that this has happened before. We all know the consequences of marginalisation. As students striving for knowledge against ignorance, we ask you not to turn your backs, and to not allow this segregation to be done in your name.  

Historical evidence of trans identities dates back centuries, and through many periods and cultures, we have been accepted and respected in public life. Yet, trans people are currently demonised in the UK. At once we are stigmatised as both too strong and too weak. But, we are just like you. We want to live full, long lives. We want to spend time with our friends. We want to complete our studies and fully engage in all aspects of university life. We want to change the world for the better. We are not a danger that needs managing; we could not be further from pathetic.  

We ask you to open your eyes to the lies painted about the trans community in the mainstream media, and the powers used by political groups to discriminate against us in our everyday lives. The Cass Report, a powerful authority on access to medical treatment for trans people which has had a catastrophic effect on our healthcare, has been corroborated by experts and the relevant authorities to be a scientifically illiterate political document containing myriad errors that deviate significantly from best practice. Senior civil service members who drafted the Equality Act 2010 have publicly said that its intention was entirely at odds with the interpretation that the judges of the Supreme Court came to in their judgment; a judgment which privileged the views of an anti-trans campaign group while making little attempt to understand how trans lives were lived and would be affected by their decision. There are myriad other examples of political power being used to target trans people.  

The impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling and EHRC guidance has grave consequences for the safety of us and other trans students while we go through our studies. Exclusionary action against trans students will only reinforce that we are not welcome in student spaces, and we need to fight to ensure that our university and union continue to show support for trans students by not conforming to the guidance laid out by the EHRC. We must reject the ruling made by the Supreme Court, otherwise, we risk our presence being suppressed.  

We would like to express our gratitude to the staff at the Union, many of whom volunteered their time each week to create an effective action group. Having seen so many colleagues express a commitment to the safety of trans students has been incredibly reassuring. With their support, Strath Union has spearheaded a number of meetings for Scottish student unions which will bring the student movement closer as we fight for trans rights. 

We are also committed to taking this momentum forward, and we have some great plans for the next academic year to provide further support to Strathclyde students. Going forward, we will be working closely with Strath Union, NUS, and other organisations to challenge the harmful misinformation that is spreading because of the recent Supreme Court ruling and EHRC guidance and see that the fight against this attack on human rights extends into the new academic year. We want to ensure that the university remains a space where everyone feels safe, and where students can do and achieve anything without fear of harassment or discrimination which the EHRC guidance will allow and indeed actually encourage.  

We are forming a Trans Rights Action Group. If you’d be keen to hear more or get involved, please sign up here and if you have further questions, email: strathunion.dem@strath.ac.uk.  

We ask you to be part of our movement as we stand against the ongoing discrimination towards trans people in the media and the attempts to suppress our presence in society.  

We stand against hatred.  

We stand together in pride. 

- Ash, Jay and Jo