Jersey

Trans* Jersey

Media links: Meeting with the Chief Minister

Jersey Evening Post: Tuesday 29 July 2014:
072914Channel Island equality charity Liberate will be meeting two senior Jersey politicians tomorrow, Tuesday 29 July 2014, with affiliate group Trans*Jersey.

The first meeting will be held with Social Security Minister, Senator Francis Le Gresley, over Jersey’s new Discrimination Law and provisions relating to sexual orientation and gender reassignment.

The second meeting with Jersey’s Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, follows the recent debate when the States of Jersey Assembly voted 24 to 18 in favour of a proposition by Home Minister Ian Le Marquand to delay an in principle decision on equal marriage in Jersey. Instead the Assembly agreed to a round of public consultation on the subject which will end in December.

The move provoked strong public reaction and anger from islanders, who recently voted 81% in favour of equal marriage in a poll carried out by the Jersey Evening Post.

The meeting is part of an initial round of meetings with interested stakeholder groups as part of the public consultation on Equal Marriage.

Chair of Liberate Martin Gavet said:

“We welcome the opportunity to meet with both Senator Francis Le Gresley and Chief Minister Senator Ian Gorst, on these important matters.

“For far too long Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning people in all our Channel Islands have been treated as second class citizens and we see these meetings as a sign that Jersey is committed to ensuring that it becomes a fair and equal society.

“These are issues that transcend politics. Politics has a vital role to play in protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens. Legislation will help to enshrine those values of a caring and compassionate society. Values that acknowledge that everyone is born free and equal in both dignity and rights.

“It will define how we as individuals are expected to treat each other, no matter what someone’s gender is, their gender identity, their sexual orientation, race, disability or belief. Discrimination breeds intolerance and hatred. We hope that soon there will be no hiding place for such attitudes which only serve to divide families, damage the fabric of our society and destroy lives.”

Liberate-Chief-Min
Above (left to right): Pippa McCathie, Support Director (Liberate); Ellie Jones, Vice-Chair (Liberate); Martin Gavet, Chair (Liberate) and Vic Tanner Davy founder of Trans*Jersey, standing outside Jersey’s Cyril Le Marquand House after meeting with Jersey Chief Minister Senator Ian Gorst.

Campaigners for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights met with Jersey’s Chief Minister Ian Gorst yesterday over proposals to introduce same-sex marriage.

Liberate, a Guernsey-based registered charity which represents the Channel Islands LGBTQ community described the meeting as constructive, well-researched and informed.

Liberate gave a video presentation to the meeting, which included representatives from other groups working with Jersey’s LGBTQ community, including Trans*Jersey which also gave a presentation.

During the recent States of Jersey debate on a proposition on Equal Marriage there had been considerable discussion around the “unintended consequences” of introducing equal marriage.

“Our video obviously struck a chord with those present at the meeting, especially Senator Gorst and his colleagues” said Martin Gavet, Chair of Liberate.

“It highlighted the consequences of not introducing equal marriage, and continuing to allow discriminatory laws and policies in Jersey society. It had a clear message that discriminatory laws and practices damage the very fabric of our society and family life. Such laws and practices, effectively say to citizens that prejudice, intolerance and hate towards others is acceptable.

“What society needs to wake up to is that this has a hugely damaging effect especially in respect of areas such as mental health and wellbeing. LGBTQ people are known to be twice at risk of anxiety, depression, substance misuse, self harm and suicide. Gay teens have recently been shown to be 6-9 times more likely to attempt to take their own life. Why? Because of the feelings of isolation, bullying, harassment, etc.

“This costs us in terms of emergency, acute, mental health care, policing, education and the welfare state. However this is just the financial cost to society. The tragedy is that families have disowned their own children just for being LGBTQ, and lives have been lost and will continue to be lost in our islands due to such prejudice.

“So long as we have laws that discriminate, we will find it harder to challenge prejudice as not all of us will be treated fairly and equally in dignity and rights.

“Above all this is about allowing two people who love each other the right to show that ultimate commitment – giving them the right to marry. The fact that we as a community have had to fight so hard for this right clearly shows to our decision makers how much we value and respect the institution of marriage”.

The meeting discussed models of equal marriage and civil unions in other jurisdictions including, England and Wales, Scotland, and South Africa. It is the first of several meetings and it is anticipated that the public consultation process may finish before Jersey’s elections in October.

Earlier in the day Liberate and Trans*Jersey also met with Senator Le Gresley, Social Security Minister over the introduction of the Discrimination Law and the inclusion of provisions relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Trans* Jersey

A week of contradictions

On Tuesday 8 July 2014, the States of Jersey approved an amendment by Senator Ian le Marquand to the proposition to allow same-sex marriage that had been brought by Deputy Sam Mezec. The amendment effectively stalled the progress towards equal marriage in Jersey by making it subject to a consultation by the Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst. Apparently, many of those who voted for the amendment did so because of the immoderate language being used by supporters of the original bill. The words “homophobia” and “homophobic” were used on more than one occasion to describe others with opposing views.

On the very same day, Trans* Jersey received two emails from trans* islanders, independently, reporting that they had been the victims of abuse and assault. In both cases, they were physically at risk of injury. In both cases, the attacks were simply because the victims were trans*. As you can imagine, Tuesday was not a good day for Trans* Jersey.

However, the two reports put the States’ debate into perspective and meant that we did not vent our disappointment over the States’ decision by calling-out politicians on Facebook or Twitter as some did. Apart from acknowledging that there might have been any number of reasons why a States’ member voted against same-sex marriage, such as feeling ill-prepared for the debate, there is another reason why we should be moderate in our response to setbacks in the struggle for equal marriage.

Nobody in the States’ chamber on Tuesday was homophobic. Those who have been the victims of homophobia, transphobia or biphobia know it when they see it. *Phobia isn’t an off-colour joke or a misuse of a pronoun or a disagreement over equal marriage. It is a deep-seated hatred of LGBT people that makes a person capable of acts of verbal or physical cruelty to the target of his or her hate. Until you have been the victim of a hate crime, you cannot know *phobia. There is something in the eyes, something in the tone of voice, that LGBT people recognise as *phobic. It’s when the adrenalin starts pumping and the body goes into fight or flight mode.

When a white, heterosexual, male calls people who don’t share his political view on same-sex marriage “homophobic”, he needs to be very careful. Overuse and misuse of any word can remove its power. Homophobia, transphobia and biphobia are important words to the LGBT community for they are they only way we have of describing the most heinous of crimes against us. These words must not be cheapened by those who are unlikely ever to be the target of a homophobic, transphobic or biphobic attack.

Trans* Jersey would like to say to our allies: thank you for your support, thank you for fighting for equality for us, thank you for being allies, but please be careful of the language that you use when you speak on our behalf.

rallykingstreetAnd then, on Saturday 12 July 2014, this happened. Estimates of the number of people who turned out vary but there were certainly hundreds, possibly 1,000 people there. King Street was filled with love, pride and lots of rainbows for what was Jersey’s first ever LGBTQ rights march or equality rally or pride parade. In the end, nobody was sure what it was and, actually, it didn’t seem to matter. We were there to show that we exist. Every human population has an LGBT community. Visible or forced underground, it is there. Our detractors conveniently forget that fact but, sometimes, we do too and when we do, even an island of 9 miles by 5 miles where “everyone knows everyone”, can seem like a lonely place. Saturday was about reminding ourselves that we aren’t alone, that there are others like us, others who also share our desire for equality.

Rallies often don’t accomplish much but this one felt different. This one felt like a moment of change. Maybe because, during the week, the feelings of anger towards the States for their decision dissipated and were replaced with a feeling of solidarity. Trans* Jersey thanks the organisers of Saturday’s event for being the catalyst that brought us all together in Liberation Square. Every LGBT person in Jersey now knows, for sure, that there is a community here to which they belong and who will stand up for their beliefs in a fair and equal society.

Trans* Jersey

Press release: 8 July 2014

Trans* Jersey is very disappointed by the decision of the States of Jersey to vote in favour of Senator Ian Le Marquand’s amendment to require the Chief Minister consult on any change in the law to allow same-sex marriage in Jersey.

gay-marriage-ukTrans* Jersey’s founder, Vic Tanner Davy, said: “We recognise that, as an issue, this is not a high priority for the majority of States members personally. As a result, it was clear that a number of States members had not done their homework and felt ill-prepared to vote on the matter. This was demonstrated most clearly by those concerned about the ‘unintended consequences’ of allowing equal marriage. Anyone who has studied the issue in detail will know that there are no ‘unintended consequences’ to equal marriage. We know that, once States members have had a chance to do their research over the summer, any concerns they may have will be put to bed and equal marriage will go forward.

“Today was a wake-up call to States members that they need to do their homework and come back to the chamber in full possession of the facts about why the island’s LGBT community needs this legislation. This is not a proposition that is going to go away and it is one on which members need to be clear where they stand as it will be an election issue in the autumn.”

Trans* Jersey

Open letter to Jersey’s politicians on equal marriage

Why civil partnerships do not make for equal marriage

For those who think that they were made some kind of promise by the gay community that civil partnerships would be enough to ensure equality, I can confirm that no such promise was made by the trans community who have always known that civil partnerships do not provide true equality. As Jersey law stands, a person in a marriage or civil partnership who undergoes gender reassignment whilst still in that union is severely discriminated against.

A key part of a transgender person’s journey is acquiring their gender recognition certificate (”GRC”) after two years of living as their true gender. It is a legal document that means for all purposes you are the gender you present. It enables a trans person to have all legal documents amended, including their birth certificate. It also provides a degree of privacy protection for the trans person because it is an offence under the Gender Recogntion (Jersey) Law to “out” someone in possession of a GRC, for example, when giving an employment reference.

Under current Jersey legislation, at the point at which a trans person in a marriage or civil partnership applies for their GRC, they are forced to dissolve their union. Having done so, they are then expected to re-make their union using the vehicle appropriate to their gender and the gender of their spouse. The choice for transgender individuals in this situation is clear: either, do not apply for your GRC and continue having your official documents “out” you; or, change your official documents at the cost of losing your legal ties to your family.

Anyone who has been through a divorce will know that not only are there costs involved, emotional and financial, but also that a divorce immediately stops the continuation of joint arrangements, such as pension provisions, insurance policies and wills, some of which cannot be re-started without severe penalty. And, if the union has produced children, the situation gets even more complicated. I think that all sides of the marriage argument would agree that nobody should be forced to go through a divorce.

lesbian-marriageIn 2006, the International Commission of Jurists and the International Service for Human Rights developed a set of international legal principles on the application of international law to human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. These were called the Yogyakarta Principles and, whilst not adopted as an international standard, are cited by UN bodies and national courts, and many governments have made them a guiding tool for defining their policies in the matter. The European Commissioner for Human Rights has endorsed the Yogyakarta Principles, in particular principle number 3, and considers them an important tool for identifying the obligations of states to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all persons, regardless of their gender identity.

Yogyakarta Principle number 3 states that, “Each person’s self-defined sexual orientation and gender identity is integral to their personality and is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom… No status, such as marriage or parenthood, may be invoked as such to prevent the legal recognition of a person’s gender identity.”

Whilst legislation exists that gives opposite-sex couples a different piece of paper from same-sex couples, there will always be an inequality at the heart of the island’s laws. Jersey is proudly bringing in the first piece of anti-discrimination legislation later this year and, yet, enshrined within its laws is a nasty little “gotcha” that discriminates against a person in a marriage or civil partnership who transitions. If Jersey is serious about improving its human rights credentials on the world stage, it needs to adopt the Yogyakarta Principles as an internationally recognised model of best practice and address anomalies within its legislation such as this.

This is why Trans* Jersey is supporting Guernsey’s proposition for a Union Civile that requires all couples, regardless of gender, to wed in a civil ceremony that registers the union for legal purposes. Having done the legal part, couples who then wish to seek a church service aligned to their religious beliefs regarding marriage can do so. This solves the argument over the definition of marriage that exercises religious and secular groups, and it enables a transgender person to acquire their GRC and alter the gender on their Union Civile certificate without having to divorce. It is an elegantly simple solution to the problem and one that we hope Jersey will also propose, debate and pass.

Trans* Jersey

Response to white paper on law to protect against sex discrimination

Trans* Jersey has now submitted its response to the States of Jersey Social Security Department white paper on law to protect against sex discrimination. All comments received regarding the white paper were incorporated into the response. However, this is not the end of the process. A period of consultation begins now, which Trans* Jersey hopes it will be involved with. We have expressed our interest in doing so. If you have further comments or issues that you want included, please email us.

Trans* Jersey restricted its response to two of the characteristics being considered by the consultation – sex and gender reassignment – that are of most concern to trans* islanders and suggested ways in which the law might be drafted to protect a more diverse, but equally discriminated against, population.

discrimination-black-and-redSummary of key issues arising

The white paper assumes that gender and sex are interchangeable. For most people that may be the case but it is not the case for trans* people. Using a binary model of sex as a protected characteristic by which to assess discrimination presents problems. These are outlined in the full response.

There are a number of misconceptions about what it means to be trans* and, unfortunately, the States of Jersey’s consultation document falls into some common traps. Why these misconceptions are unhelpful is discussed in the full response.

The States of Jersey has looked to the UK Equality Act for guidance on how to shape its anti-discrimination legislation. However, as the recent manifesto presented to the UK government by a number of UK charities that work with the trans* community demonstrates, there are problems with this legislation (and the Gender Recognition Act) that need to be corrected.

Jersey has an opportunity to bring in model legislation that advances the current position of trans* people within British law. Trans* Jersey offers a solution to the problems it sees as arising from the proposals put forward in the white paper in order that Jersey can implement legislation that encompasses the broad spectrum of human gender identity.

What we would like to see

Trans* Jersey is asking for the States of Jersey’s law to protect against sex discrimination to include two things:

  1. The definition of “sex” as a protected characteristic expanded to include persons of a non-binary gender;
  2. The removal of any exemption that permits businesses to discriminate on the grounds of gender reassignment. There is no requirement to have any exemptions for transgender individuals, other than those provided for the characteristic of “sex”. Trans employees should be subject only to the same exemptions for genuine occupational requirements as natal born men, women and those persons of a non-binary gender.

To find out more about how we arrived at the above and the background to our thinking on the white paper, you can download our full response here.

Trans* Jersey

Consortium membership

Trans* Jersey is very pleased to be able to announce that, as of today, we are members of Consortium. This will provide us with access to loads of resources for our members and other groups doing similar work in the UK.

Consortium is a national membership organisation focusing on the development and support of LGBT groups, projects and organisations; so they can deliver direct services and campaign for individual rights. They are mandated by their Membership to focus on the following areas:

SHARE: To collect a wide range of information relevant to the LGBT sectors and share it widely

  • Build and maintain a national website in partnership with the sector
  • Create and update a database of LGBT organisations and their activities
  • Coordinate the production of a State of the Sector report annually

SUPPORT: Link the sector together

  • Host events such as national LGBT conferences with time for Members to discuss their own needs
  • Create and support specialist networks
  • Help Members to form partnerships to work together on particular projects
  • Capacity building work focused on addressing identified sector gaps with small organisations

SHOUT: Be a voice for the LGBT sector

  • Be one of the voices for LGBT sector representation to highlight its needs
  • Coordinate Member organisations to provide the voice for LGBT people
  • Including setting up of a Members’ Council

STORE: Lead work with LGBT organisations to develop a shared vision for the whole sector

  • Be a repository for good practice
  • Supporting the standardisation of research across the sector to build a better national picture of LGBT needs and experiences

Recently, Consortium delivered the Trans Manifesto to the UK government. Trans* Jersey wholeheartedly supports the aims of the document. It is an important step and one we need to monitor in the island because, should its demands come to fruition, it will have repercussions for trans* individuals in Jersey, too. You can read more about it here.

Click Consortium’s logo below to find out more about who they are and what they do.Consortium_logo