Simone Webb writes for Oxford University’s Cherwell on what the future is for the LGBT movement after gay marriage has been achieved:
It’s July, and Pride season is in full swing: the London LGBT Pride march took place on Saturday; Oxford Pride was a couple of weeks ago; Manchester Pride is yet to come. This year’s Prides coincide with an accelerating movement towards the legalisation of equal marriage in the United Kingdom; the Home Office’s consultation has recently ended, and it looks as if this government may be the one which finally ends civil marriage inequality. Equal marriage has been central to many mainstream LGBTQ campaigns in recent years; I personally believe that it has been emphasised to such an extent, perhaps, that its achievement will lead to a misleading sense of completion for the movement. With that in mind, it’s vital to consider the directions LGBTQ campaigning in the UK should take both during and after the fight for full equal marriage.
First, we should not forget the “T” in LGBTQ. This is forgotten far too readily, both within and without the movement. Trans* people (covering transgender, transsexual, genderqueer and other gender-variant people) face problems which variably both overlap with and differ from those which confront lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Transphobia is endemic in our society. Just a few months ago a Paddy Power advert was released which derived its entire “humour” from the idea of distinguishing “real” women (i.e., those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) from trans women…
Full story here.
What next after gay marriage?
It’s July, and Pride season is in full swing: the London LGBT Pride march took place on Saturday; Oxford Pride was a couple of weeks ago; Manchester Pride is yet to come. This year’s Prides coincide with an accelerating movement towards the legalisation of equal marriage in the United Kingdom; the Home Office’s consultation has recently ended, and it looks as if this government may be the one which finally ends civil marriage inequality. Equal marriage has been central to many mainstream LGBTQ campaigns in recent years; I personally believe that it has been emphasised to such an extent, perhaps, that its achievement will lead to a misleading sense of completion for the movement. With that in mind, it’s vital to consider the directions LGBTQ campaigning in the UK should take both during and after the fight for full equal marriage.
First, we should not forget the “T” in LGBTQ. This is forgotten far too readily, both within and without the movement. Trans* people (covering transgender, transsexual, genderqueer and other gender-variant people) face problems which variably both overlap with and differ from those which confront lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Transphobia is endemic in our society. Just a few months ago a Paddy Power advert was released which derived its entire “humour” from the idea of distinguishing “real” women (i.e., those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) from trans women…
Full story here.
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Editor. Matt is a second-year Philosophy student at the University of Birmingham. He is also a multimedia editor for Redbrick.