Politicians treat transgender youth as ‘non-human’, says activist Achi-News

The volatile debate surrounding trans people is seeing politicians treat the community as “non-human”, an activist has spoken candidly in the run-up to Transgender Day of Visibility 2024.

Speaking to PinkNews about their work running the #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp solidarity campaign for Transgender Awareness Day (31 March), Dee Lou Whitnell made candid comments about the state of anti-trans politics in the UK and the impact it has on the community and more broadly public.

Whitnell, who is non-binary, created the hashtag after parts of the government’s guidance for schools on trans pupils were released to the press in the summer of 2023. At the time, the leaks suggested there would be trans children are banned from playing sport and will not be allowed to transition socially without parental consent.

“It was terrible. It was absolutely horrible and as a former teacher, I could not sit by and let them suggest these practices to teachers.

“Especially as a former trans teacher and a teacher who worked exclusively with LGBTQ+ children.”

“I created the campaign that trans children set up because I knew that if the guidelines that were revealed became official guidance, our children would not become adults,” they said.

Through their work running the unity campaign and pushing back against the guidelines – which were officially announced in December – Whitnell has engaged with organizations such as the LGBT Consortium, spoken on the first trans panel in parliament and building strong, personal bonds with families who have lost their trans young people.

In one such case, Whitnell said they became close to the family of Corey Hall, a 14-year-old trans boy who took his own life in October, and were invited to his funeral. It was a moment that led to a deep realization for Whitnell about the state and effects of transphobia in the UK.

“In that moment, when I was sitting in a church for the funeral of a young trans boy, I was like, wow, this is the reality of what our trans youth are facing.

“That’s why I’m quite blunt and quite in your face with the coverage of trans youth because I think we’re not having real conversations about it.

“I believe that the way many politicians and adults see young people is that they see them as non-human; that they do not have their own power, that they do not have their own autonomy. When, in fact, they are many [more] more knowledgeable than many adults are about gender and identity.”

After this, Whitnell said they knew they wanted to “make a difference more than just the campaign” and use the campaign as a vehicle “to make a change”.

After the guidance was officially released, Whitnell worked with various organizations to help people complete the consultation about it, as they felt it had been purposely made “impossible to complete “.

“If you didn’t have a laptop, if you didn’t have access to the internet, if English wasn’t your first language, if you’re like me and you’re dyslexic, or if you need a physical consultation; it was made so inaccessible for a reason,” PinkNews said.

Beyond the guidelines, Whitnell is keen to raise awareness of the effects of the politicization of trans lives, especially as we are in a General Election year.

They said, first and foremost, trans people need to protect themselves during this heightened phase of transphobia. “One of the things I’ve been saying a lot to a lot of my trans friends right now is that you’re still an activist, you’re still fighting for our rights, even if are you in bed and you’re not reading the news because it’s so tired at the moment”.

But at the same time, it is “so important to ask these difficult questions and hold politicians accountable” as “we are in a moment of attacking trans people left, right and centre.”

“It is very important that you ask direct questions to politicians and you do not allow washed-up responses,” they said.

One way Whitnell hopes to engage politicians is through young trans people, parents, carers and teachers sending letters to MPs to help “humanise” the trans community, rather than politicians seeing them as just amorphous statistics.

“That’s something politicians are doing at the moment, dehumanizing trans people by saying they don’t exist or saying there is a concept or an ideology.”

“I’m also trying to raise awareness of the fact that the way we talk about young trans people and trans people in the media directly affects young people,” they said, “because we see increase in young people attacking trans people. – something we haven’t seen before.

“Previously, we saw people going on dates with a trans person and attacking them because they didn’t realize they were trans. But now we see young people [attacking trans people] and the only reason for that is because of the media, because of celebrities, because of politicians, making comments about trans people and young people absorbing it.

“It is our responsibility to make sure that our children stop killing children.”