16 June, 2014 Trans* Jersey

Trans* Jersey working with YES

Trans* Jersey is pleased to announce that it will be working with Jersey’s Youth Enquiry Service to develop a programme of talks, courses and/or workshops that can be taken into schools or youth clubs on the subject of gender, sexuality and sexual health.

The Youth Enquiry Service (YES) first opened in 2008. As well as offering a drop-in service for young people YES also provides one-to-one counselling as well as online advice on a broad range of issues.

YES was developed by the Youth Service in partnership with the Jersey Youth Trust. It was created to support young people aged 14 – 25 with any issue that affects them.

YES works with young people on any issue, for example, homelessness, benefits, advocacy work, crime, education, parenting, leaving care, drugs & alcohol, issues around sexuality, emotional health, relationships, sexual health and rights & responsibilities.

YES believe young people have a right to quality information, advice and counselling services. You can find them at La Motte St Centre, next door to the Social Security building.

If you or a young family member is questioning their gender or sexuality, YES run a confidential and discreet service that includes one-to-one sessions and/or group meetings with other young people where you can talk about similar issues. To find out more about the work of YES on this subject, click on the logo below.

Featured Trans* Jersey

Manifesto 2014

Trans* Jersey’s manifesto defines the problems faced by transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, androgynous, bigender and intersex Jersey residents in 2014 and explains what actions we intend to take to address these issues.

Trans* Jersey believes that the island’s trans population is being patchily served by GPs and the States of Jersey Health and Social Services (“H&SS”) Department. This is due to the lack of clear guidelines for healthcare professionals working with trans patients. Individual clinicians within the H&SS Department are not seen to be at fault and, once the H&SS Department has been accessed, experiences of care have been good to excellent, largely through the efforts of the clinician acting on their own initiative. However, the initial route into healthcare for trans patients is unclear. The evidence suggests that the quality of healthcare provided is also influenced by the tenacity and perseverance of the trans individual being treated.

Trans* Jersey supports the calls by trans* organisations in the UK that the process for procuring a gender recognition certificate (“GRC”) needs revision. The Gender Recognition (Jersey) Law 2010 allows for a GRC from a recognised jurisdiction to be passed in the Royal Court. Any revisions that happen to the UK Gender Recognition Act 2004 as a result of the consultation happening with trans* organisations will, therefore, directly affect trans islanders. At present, Jersey has no mechanism by which to issue a GRC. However, this may change if trans* organisations within the UK are successful in calling for the Gender Recognition Act to be scrapped and for the issuance of a GRC to be an administrative process driven by the trans individual.

Trans* Jersey is committed to ensuring that all States of Jersey legislation that directly affects trans* islanders is scrutinised and responded to on behalf of the Jersey trans* community in order to safeguard our human rights. Trans* Jersey is currently preparing a response to both the States of Jersey consultation on sex discrimination and the imminent debate on equal marriage. Trans* Jersey will also be reviewing all legislation in force to ensure that there are no revisions that need to be called for.

Trans* Jersey believes that equal marriage legislation is essential to ensure that trans islanders are not discriminated against, and that any equal marriage law introduced in Jersey should not contain the so-called Spousal Veto. Trans islanders who are married or in a civil partnership at the time of their transition have no option currently but to get divorced before they can acquire a full GRC. On the granting of a full GRC, the couple may formalise their partnership again by having another wedding ceremony. This situation is patently in violation of all human rights.

Trans* Jersey believes that education is the key to many of the issues faced by trans* individuals in society and is therefore committed to providing opportunities and resources to cisgender islanders in order that they can learn more about the trans* population. In the coming months, Trans* Jersey will be seeking conversations with private schools and the States of Jersey Education, Sport and Culture (“ES&C”) Department about including trans* issues within the sex education curriculum.

These are not the only issues faced by trans* individuals in Jersey, but they are the most important ones to be addressed. We are a small group with no financial backing. This manifesto is, therefore, necessarily realistic in its aims. It is not possible to hit all targets at once so we are being selective. Once progress has been made on these issues, we can turn our attention to other areas where reform is needed.

You can download the complete manifesto as a pdf here.

15 May, 2014 Trans* Jersey

Education

GIRES reports that: Schools do not have proper advice on how to deal with and eliminate transphobic bullying and generally, this is not being addressed. Trans children are suffering as a result. In the new March 2014 Department of Education Guidance into Preventing and Tackling Bullying gender reassignment is mentioned but not as often as other protected categories.

Trans people in schools (pupils, staff, children of trans parents) are more likely to suffer from bullying than any other group.

The Department for Education should ensure that all schools are provided with advice on preventative and responsive action and fully informed about the information and training provided by GIRES, Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence.

Trans* Jersey echoes this call with the same request to the States of Jersey’s Department for Education, Sport and Culture to use the resources provided by trans* groups to educate. In preparation for the new anti-discrimination legislation being passed in Jersey next year, Trans* Jersey is preparing a series of courses aimed at employers, employees, teachers and students dealing with issues affecting trans* individuals.

According to GIRES in the UK, the current Department for Education curriculum for sex and relationship education (published in 2000 and referred to in a Standard Note to MPs earlier this year) includes references to sexual orientation but not to gender reassignment.Gender variant young people are thus denied equal treatment.

Trans* Jersey is currently researching the States of Jersey’s sex education curriculum.

Education about trans* issues is especially important for those working in the public sector where employees often act as gatekeepers to services that trans* individuals need to access, such as the hospital, passport office, parish hall and social security.

GIRES cites this example of where a perceived lack of education about and empathy with trans* issues is a barrier to reporting and prosecuting hate crimes:

The main issue is underreporting of transphobic hate crime due to a fear on the part of trans victims that the Police and other agencies of the Criminal Justice System will not take them seriously. Trans witnesses also fear being “outed” in Court. Hopefully we shall see some improvement following the publication of the updated the CPS Trans Management Guidance authored by GIRES and the proposed revision of the Victims Code.

Trans* Jersey firmly believes in the power of education to change people’s attitudes to and treatment of trans* individuals.