Why accountability for transphobia matters

Speaking at a protest against transphobia, University of York, May 2022 (Image Credit: Katie Preston, York Vision)

Back in May 2022, I attended the protest against transphobia in York. The protest was against an event with a speaker who I won't name, simply because I don't need to be doxxed by their followers (who seem to search their name because.. they have nothing better to do?).

I've found with my blog posts I tend to use 'feature' images of my own that help to articulate the points I'm making from my experiences as a campaigner and, in some cases, my own personal experiences. This image comes from a day where 200 people turned out to protest transphobia on their campus, their home, on a day where someone who has written inflammatory articles about trans people and doxxed those who dare to oppose hate.

I spoke at this event for two reasons. Firstly, having been the LGBTQ+ Officer for the past two years at Uni of York (and having helped with organising a protest before my tenure ended), I wanted to help make it clear that there will always be voices in large numbers against transphobia. But, I also wanted to use the chance to remind my fellow trans siblings of three things: that they are valid, they are loved, and they are welcome at York. Most importantly though, this was an event to hold transphobia to account and call out hate for what it is.

​I've found many times that people being held account for transphobia is thrown under the umbrella term of "cancel culture". This speaker, for instance, had their event cancelled initially not because of their so-called 'gender critical' views (which aren't a thing - it's called transphobic views!) but because the society hosting them couldn't be bothered to fill out a risk assessment, or declare that the speaker in question was what the Students' Union would deem controversial. That was the reason for the cancellation, not "cancel culture". For the event to go ahead, the union and University had to be assured that there would be no damage done by it (spoiler alert: there was significant damage). Yet, of course, this was the narrative pushed in the media with no chance for a right of reply or correction to the record from those us, who were organising the demonstrations and raising awareness of the problems at hand.

More recently, I've seen - within the Green Party - individuals with transphobic views also being held to account, be it no-fault suspensions from the party or having their spokesperson privileges removed. In those instances, the hateful rhetoric has contravened code of conduct, such as RR530 in the Green Party's Responsibilities and Rights, where it states "We shall respect transgender and non-binary people's identities as real". But this isn't a post about the Green Party, or certain Daily Mail journalists. It's about accountability, and why it matters when dealing with transphobia.

The point I'm trying to make here is this: if people are to trust either individuals or groups on their commitment to trans rights, they must be shown that with actions. These actions will do more than empty rhetoric and sharing social media graphics on days of significance; they will show that someone is willing to put their money where their mouth is and take a stance. This applies everywhere. If transphobic language is being used by someone who is straight or cis, their 'allyship' is hollow if they can't see the damage of their words. If a workplace discriminates against an employee for being trans, that company has no place to claim it is inclusive at all. If an organisation allows transphobia to fester with no action against perpetrators, it does not stand with LGBTQ+ people. If you can't hold transphobia to account with actions, then you're not a trans ally.

The above paragraph may seem like some sort of platitudes akin to "if you see something, say something" but there's a reason why they're important. I spoke of trust, and for so many trans people - myself included - there's very little trust that we're being considered at all. After I spoke at the protest, my brain immediately went from one mindset to another: it went from "I've worked with the university, I know they're on my side" to "The university just doesn't care about us". I felt for the first time that the place I'd studied at for three years just didn't care about me at all. After so many pleas from myself and my friends, who the elected representatives on behalf of LGBTQ+ people at the uni, they ignored us explaining how it would inevitably end and took no responsibility for what followed: my friends receiving death threats and massive reputational damage. It was crushing.

So, to round this up, accountability matters because if you can't hold others effectively to account, nobody will trust you. That trust will evaporate and all that will be left are hollow remarks, empty words, and meaningless 'solidarity'. After five people were murdered because hate against LGBTQ+ people was allowed to fester without accountability, it's not good enough.