Campaigners push for human rights legislation to back trans rights

Academy award winner Dame Emma Thompson and Mhairi Black MP, have signed an open letter in support of trans rights in Scotland alongside a collective of notable women.

Penned by Rhiannon Spear, a Glasgow City councillor and chair of Scottish charity Time for Inclusive Education (TIE), the letter calls for an end to attempts to "roll back the rights that trans people already have" and urges that the trans community are not excluded from equalities and human rights discussions.

Addressing ongoing debates regarding women's rights and trans equality, the letter's signatories argue that: "Trans people have played an integral role in every civil rights movement to date; from LGBT equality to women's causes. Attempts to airbrush trans people from conversations regarding equality and human rights, or to exclude them from advancements for LGBT and women's rights, have happened before.

"Such efforts may have re-energised, but they are nothing new, and we say as a collective of women: they are not representative of us. We support trans rights."

Explaining why she wrote the letter, Spear said: "I believe it is important that we're able to have open conversations about advancing equalities within our society.

"However, the current narrative regarding trans identities and rights have made it difficult to have these conversations, and media sensationalism and misinformation has meant that rather than properly discussing much needed advancements we are now forced to revert to conversation about defending the existence of trans identities and protecting the current rights of the trans community.

She added: "Defining womanhood by conforming to strict biological and physical attributes has been fought against by strong women long before my time. To now see some advocate that trans women are denied their rights and their dignity on these very grounds, I believe would be a devastating step back for women and for feminism."

Dame Emma Thompson, musician Lucy Spraggan, MSPs Gail Ross and Rona Mackay, and MPs Mhairi Black and Hannah Bardell are amongst the letter's signatories which include; women's aid workers, journalists and broadcasters, politicians, publishers, academics, third sector representatives, actors, lawyers, and equalities campaigners.

Hannah Bardell, MP for the Livingston Constituency, said: "We all deserve to live our lives free from fear and discrimination. Scotland is a compassionate country, and we must hope that with compassion comes understanding.”