Every day I look at my phone and feel like Captain Picard on the bridge, yelling at my colleagues for a damage report to see what the latest disaster is!

This time, the government decided not to recognise non-binary people, a study reports that 6 in 10 trans youth have faced verbal abuse this year, and a brief fight broke out between two world leaders about LGBT rights! 

Monday Downing Street rejects Tory MP’s rant against LGBTQ families (thepinknews.com)

The week kicked off with the UK’s national Conservative Conference. It was as bad as you could expect. Suella Braverman, during her speech to the conference, made numerous transphobic remarks, ranging from “women don’t have penises” to saying that Keir Starmer will run as “Labour’s first woman prime minister”. 

Throughout the conference, even 10 Downing Street had to reject some quotes said by other Conservative MPs.

Tuesday Namibia’s supreme court same sex marriages 

Some really good news on the international front. Namibia’s supreme court recognised same sex marriages conducted abroad, and afforded gay Namibians the same rights as straight Namibians in marriage. 

I always enjoy seeing progress around the planet. As it shows things still move forward, even if there isn’t much movement in the places we are. 

Wednesday 6 in 10 LGBT+ young adults face verbal abuse

In a recent survey, it was found that three quarters of trans young adults have been victim to verbal abuse in the last year. The survey also mentioned other worrying statistics, including that half of young LGBT do not feel safe at work, and only 6 in 10 LGBT young adults feel safe at home.

These are some really worrying statistics. I am not surprised. We have seen hate crime on the rise recently, and given rising anti-LGBT sentiment fueled by an increasingly anti-LGBT moral panic. Unfortunately, I can only see this increasing. Also, note that these numbers occurred in the space of a year! 

Thursday DeSantis signs bills targeting trans kids and the use of bathrooms and pronouns

Ron DeStantis signed a bill into the Florida legislature banning gender affirming healthcare, targeting drag shows, expanding the don’t say gay law and removing the right to use the right bathroom.

This bill is despicable. Utterly evil and completely disgusting. And given how there is still plenty of time leading towards the 2024 presidential election, I fear more is to come. And in a recent interview, Ron DeSantis claims our equalities minister Kemi Badendoch “admires” what they are doing. The Tories are eyeing up doing the same, and that leaves me terrified. 

Friday Nebraska passes gender-affirming care ban for trans youth, despite legendary fillibuster

Unfortunately, after a massive and quite frankly impressive three-month filibuster by two of the Democratic senators in Nebraska, a ban on gender affirming care was passed. Alongside this, the bill also has a ban on abortions after ten weeks. 

These bans are absolutely horrific. It scares me to see the US devolve to this level, and the prospect of Tory Britain following suit. When I heard about this filibuster, I can only look on with admiration for those two senators who fought tooth and nail. If they come to the UK, they can have a drink on me. 

Saturday: Legally recognise non binary gender identity – Petition (parliament.uk)

Unfortunate, if unsurprising news: in a petition that recently received 10,000 signatures, the government has said that they don’t plan to recognise non binary gender identities and say that the current gender recognition act is “effective”. 

What a terrible disappointment. Our non-binary brethren are going to be legally non-existent for even longer. With this government, it often looks like they’re working to erode gender recognition. If you haven’t already, please sign the petition to increase the chance of the issue being raised for parliamentary discussion. 

Sunday: Giorgia Meloni calls Justin Trudeau ‘victim of fake news’ over discussions on LGBT rights

In the G7 summit this week, Justin Trudeau raised “concerns” over the positions the Italian far-right prime minister has taken over LGBT rights. In response, Italy’s prime minister claimed that Trudeau was a “victim of fake news”, suggesting he was misinformed.

We all knew that Italy’s recent government was bad news, so it’s good to see them getting pushback from at least one world leader – though we didn’t hear the same concerns raised by our own prime minister. 

Conclusion

There was no news on education, healthcare, the conversion therapy ban, or the EHRC, so in that sense it has been a quiet week, but there was an update on gender recognition, so that was some sliver of news. Now we see what is up for next week. I’ve no predictions. The only major upcoming thing I can think of is the trans student guidance, but even then, I doubt we will get that this month. We will have to see. I’ve been proven wrong before… and badly. 

Monday

Homophobic attack in Ireland filmed on camera goes viral

Tuesday

Taiwan expands adoption rights for same sex couples

Penny Mordaunt appears to U-turn on trans rights

Wednesday

Civitas accused of ‘fuelling panic’ over teen transition claims 

No EU cash for ‘anti-LGBT’ zones in Poland, commission confirms

West Midlands Police silent amid row over historic homophobia (thepinknews.com)

Thursday

Punk rocker wants to be Ireland’s first trans elected representative (thepinknews.com)

Friday

UK belief in God among lowest in world, according to research (thepinknews.com)

Good law project gains enough funds to appeal care for trans healthcare