One of the major tenets of pride and its reason for being is to create allyship. Allyship is the connection - like a bridge - between us, a marginalised community, and the mainstream. Allies are the ones who speak up for us, advocating for us in rooms we can’t access.
Allies are the ones that will be listened to.
Allies are the ones that will find it easier to be taken seriously.
Allies are the ones that can actually help ensure the safety of trans people.
Yet allyship is something I am beginning to lose faith in. If it took months and months of slaughtering the people of Gaza, for people to finally condemn the actions of Isreal, what is it going to take for them to give a shit about the treatment of trans people in the U.K.?
I’m writing this ahead of Pride - I always work ahead of time, running a business in any form requires planning - and I have had many enquiries for Pride bookings, but only two have gone into my diary so far. Trans knowledge and experience seem to be sidelined for ERG sponsorship experience or motivational speakers, and it simply isn't good enough.
Trans rights, and the absolute bombardment we face daily, have been deprioritised to a point where I am severely considering what I have left in me to do. That's the point of allies. When trans people are exhausted from fighting, educating, masking, and surviving, we need allies to take the baton for us. Trans people can’t even have the door held open for them, let alone have a seat at the table - allies need to do this for us.
It’s not hard, nor does it require months of soul-searching. It’s simple things;
Using the right pronouns
Allowing people to socially transition in peace
Doctors believing and supporting trans people
Negating fake news
Releasing the current government is a far-right institution requiring total insurrection this general election
Providing safe access to work
Allowing trans people to have agency
Being a decent human being towards other human beings.
The genocide that is taking place in Gaza is what happens when a state is allowed to persecute groups, singling them out. Left unchecked, the current social harassment lobbied against trans people will only go one way. That might sound hyperbolic, but it is not. It is a plain fact. If that doesn’t make you think about offering allyship, support, and care for trans people, then nothing will.
Many awful things are happening in the world right now, and one doesn’t negate the others. Allyship for trans people is a matter of great concern and is something that we need now.
Trans people deserve quality of life.
Trans youth deserve to grow up.
TheTrans community needs allyship to survive.
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