Unions must act to protect trans and intersex people

By Frankie Coultas

Since the recent supreme court ruling on the legal definition of ‘woman’ in the Equality Act, fear among trans people in the workplace and public has ramped up.

The Labour government has shown that it cannot be relied on to protect our rights. Under cover of the Cass Review, it is denying trans children access to necessary healthcare. The government is threatening to proceed with a similar approach to adult transgender healthcare.

Attacks on transgender people in the UK are part of a broader and time-tested strategy of the capitalist class to divide the working class along identity lines. By falsely painting trans women as the real threat against women’s rights, the government and ruling class hopes to avoid the rightful blame for their decades of attacks on women’s services – and the sexism within their system. A divided working class is a weaker working class.

Therefore, trade unions must act. It is very welcome that this summer many trade union conferences passed motions pledging to protect trans and LGBTQ+ people in light of the recent attacks. Now it’s time for the leaderships of those unions to put their money where their mouth is.

There are over six million people in trade unions across the UK, including many of the estimated 262,000 trans people. This is a powerful force that can and must be rallied to protect a vulnerable minority that has been systematically scapegoated, demonised and dehumanised by the Tories and now the Labour government, capitalist judiciary and the media.

It is vital that unions raise a counter narrative and use their influence to bring workers together against this hateful division. Ultimately, if the government will not act in the interest of all workers (and we know it won’t), then trade unions should raise the response of building a party of our own. A party that would harness the power of the working class to defend the rights of the most vulnerable and work towards a future where capitalist division is a relic of the past.