TERF Wars

GBT+ Pride parades were originally conceived as occasions of protest, solidarity, and courage: they were statements of open defiance in the midst of prejudice. Anyone familiar with the history of Pride will know that this vitally important aspect of queer culture would not exist without transgender women of colour. Long before Pride became a heavily promoted and commercialised event in the Western world, transgender activists such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson risked their safety and even their lives to ensure that future generations would enjoy basic rights and freedoms.

This was why shockwaves reverberated through Britain’s LGBT+ community back in July when London Pride was hijacked by a group of trans-exclusionary radical feminists (colloquially known as TERFs) who pushed their way to the front of the parade and demanded that they be permitted to lead it. Carrying literature that was aimed at spreading hatred and misinformation against trans people, this group – Get The L Out – professed their desire to separate lesbians from the wider LGBT+ community.

Trans people and particularly trans women are an inextricable part of our feminist community.

One person who was horrified by the spectacle was British lesbian activist, Lottie L’Amour. “I had an unfortunate front row seat to this debacle,” she says. “I was in the parade with my partner on a bus directly behind the women, and was mortified as both a bystander and a cisgender female lesbian.”

Lottie was far from alone. Messages of support for the transgender community from cis female lesbians poured out on social media, and a hashtag campaign gained traction, #LWithTheT and #NotADebate.

This outpouring of support was mirrored here in Ireland. During Dublin’s first-ever Trans Pride march, which took place on July 28, many cisgender lesbians – together with other cis members of the queer community – were inspired to create placards expressing strong statements of support for transgender people. Within Irish feminism, trans-exclusionary rhetoric has not gained the same level of widespread acceptance that it currently enjoys in Britain.

A UNIFYING FORCE

Gordon Grehan, Operations Manager of Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) feels that while Ireland does have TERFs, their presence here is muted: a marked diff erence from the situation across the Irish Sea, where trans-exclusionary voices are often given a platform to air their views through large media outlets and political parties.

“We work with trans organisations based over there, and some of the things they are dealing with are horrific and deeply unpleasant,” he says. “We don’t have that to the same degree over here – there are some trans-exclusionary feminists here in Ireland, but there is only a handful of them, as far as can tell. They pop up on Twitter from time to time. There are lots of reasons for that: one would be the mobilisation of the Irish LGBT+ community through grassroots campaigns. Trans people definitely played a huge part in the Marriage Equality and the Repeal the Eighth campaigns.”

One example of Irish cisgender feminists’ willingness to stand in solidarity with trans people was the January 2018 publication of an open letter addressed to the organisers of a British TERF-led tour called ‘We Need to Talk’. This tour was founded with the express aim of opposing the much-needed reform of the UK’s Gender Recognition Act. The organisers planned to visit Ireland in February of this year, erroneously claiming that eff orts to advance the rights of transgender people were in some way interfering with the closely related struggle for reproductive rights.

On that occasion, Irish cisgender feminists stood up en masse to make it clear that they would not tolerate this level of bigotry and exclusion. The open letter received thousands of signatures.

The authors of the letter wrote: “Trans people and particularly trans women are an inextricable part of our feminist community. The needs of trans people are part of our campaigns. Together, cis and trans, we are Irish feminism. Trans women are our sisters; their struggles are ours, our struggles theirs. They were our sisters before any state-issued certification said so and will always be no matter what any legislation says, either now or in the future.”

SMALL POPULATION, CLOSE COOPERATION

Another deterrent to the widespread acceptance of trans- exclusionary ideas in Irish feminist and LGBT+ circles is the simple matter of our small population size, relative to that of Britain. In a small community, contained within an alreadysmall island population, there is less scope for UK-equivalent divisions to emerge – which is not to say, of course, that no problems exist within Ireland’s LGBT+ or feminist circles.

We work with trans organisations based in the UK, and some of the things they are dealing with are horriic and deeply unpleasant.

While it can be tempting to view trans-exclusionary groups such as Get The L Out as minor, extremist fringe voices, Gordon Grehan strikes a cautionary note. “What we have to remember is that however small these groups may be, vulnerable young people, or people questioning their gender identity, can still read their words and be deeply affected by them. You can easily look at the people who are trying to sow division and say, ‘Oh, they’re just a tiny, vocal minority’, but they do have a damaging impact on vulnerable people.”

Many problems affecting LGBT+ people in Ireland urgently need to be addressed – homelessness, direct provision, and the ongoing process of separating the Church and the State to name a few – but for now, it appears that we need not fear TERFs wreaking havoc to the same extent as they have in Britain. However, as we move forward and face the injustices that remain within Irish society, it is vitally important for us to remember the solidarity that has carried us forward to date. We can never afford to become complacent in the face of intolerance and bigotry.