CN: GRA

Trans people have made such a huge achievement with GRA. Incredibly powerful and loud transphobes came at us with, hoping to use it as a tool to remove our rights.

If it wasn't for the amazing strength, tenacity and integrity of many trans people, today would be darker

However, it is deeply upsetting and hurtful to have as a community fought this fight for years (a fight many of us didnt ask for) and come out of it with nothing much more than what we started with.

Hold space for your hurt and rage, but do not despair or give up on life.

The small wins we have made are that the process is now going to be online which makes it more accessible, and the fees will be massively reduced which also increases accessibility.

Due to your efforts someone somewhere who wanted a GRA cert but couldn't afford it now can

Yet the most harmful practices are still in place.

As a trans person your partner holds more power over you than with cis couples, leaving us vulnerable to domestic abuse (spousal vito)

Nonbinary people cannot be recognised putting us behind many other countries

16 & 17 year olds are still being witheld from full bodily autonomy.

Gender clinics (nhs & private) still hold ultimate power over us, forcing us to fit into cis understandings of transness and private clinics get rich off of our pain.

All of these issues can be fought and won outside of GRA reform. GRA was just one approach towards them.

We can still fight and win for: demedicalisation, support for survivors of transphobia, bodily autonomy, support for our children , and dignity.

Transphobes will try and spin this day as a win for them.

They got none of the things they wanted and were unsuccessful in stopping changes trans people asked for being made.

They have slowed down progression but we will prevail.

I am incredibly tired, sad and pissed off at the whole situation. Its okay to feel these things. There are many more battles to come. We arent fighting them alone, the trans community and wider communities fighting for safety, freedom and dignity are with us.

I also want to hold space for the racism within the governments GRA statement:

"Our philosophy is that a person’s character, your ideas, and your work ethic trumps the colour of your skin or your biological sex"

This is the myth of the good trans/poc

Trans ppl & POC should not have to earn the basic respect/dignity that is afford to others without question, through our 'work ethic'.

Our worth is not determined by how well we serve capitalism.

Being trans or of colour shouldn't be a characterstic we compensate for/overcome

And id also like to draw attention to the government in the newspapers having tried to say that the consultation was not reliable as too many trans people took part when only 7000 of 108000 respondents were trans (6.5%), yet 75% of respondents were in favour of reform

Trans equality should never have been a matter for public debate/consultation, but to ask the public what they want & then ignore the publics wishes because it didnt fit with what the government wanted shows the government to not be a democracy, and signals a greater risk to all