Hi there, I am ktglitz from Astral Body KTG23. I want to register my disgust at the way that humans are treating planet earth and propose that we get together and protest against what we shall call planetphobia. It is clear that the human race hates their planet and so we need to take a stand against them!
That sounded silly, right? Hang in there......
I am writing this blog entry to express my concern at the way the Protest Transphobia group is shaping up (or not). The group was flung together on the back of a couple of media articles in what has now become seen as ‘Burchill Gate’. There was a protest at the offices of the Guardian News Group standing against our transphobic media. This took place on 17th January and you can read my views on it here:
http://ktglitz.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/this-isnt-protest-you-are-looking-for.html
It was well meaning but.... trouble was/is, the media isn’t actually transphobic per se. There is a question of morality about whether or not the Burchill article should have been published but I don’t think any sane person could actually claim that the entire media is transphobic because this article was published.
I attended the protest out of interest and to show a little support, although I wouldn’t say I was actively protesting. It was quite well attended but for me it was a pointless exercise, especially as the paper in question had already removed the article and apologised for it. I did not attend the protest that happened later on at The Observer offices, neither did most of the people who were there at the first one. What does that tell you? The net result of these two protests was nothing. Trans people are still writing articles in the mainstream media, just as they were before the protest. The same people are still running the mainstream media too. Nothing has changed.
Now fast forward to two weeks ago. There was a report of a trans person being arrested and treated badly by the police. If you’ve missed this you can catch up at the following sites:
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/police-accused-of-humiliating-transgender-woman-during-soho-arrest-8506894.html
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/london-police-accussed-mocking-sick-trans-brutal-arrest210213
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/02/22/london-met-police-officers-investigated-for-allegedly-mocking-transgender-woman-in-soho-arrest-trans/
When these articles broke the Protest Transphobia group kicked into action with plans for a protest against the Transphobic Police. They set up an event called Protest Police Transphobia. Once again everyone was getting tarred with the same brush. The Police are no more transphobic by default than the media are. Sure there are some bad eggs in there but that doesn’t mean that it is institutional or even widespread.
Now on the face of it, the story that hit the headlines seems quite horrible. Scratch underneath the surface and there a LOT of questions that need answering. So what evidence do we actually have that this was a transphobic attack? For a start we don’t have any evidence at all that the victim identified as trans. We have a 19 second video clip that actually proves nothing other than confirming that the victim was indeed held on the floor by the Police. There is nothing in the clip that supports the transphobic claim. There are witnesses who claim the police shouted, “You're not normal. We'll let you get you up in a few minutes but you need to act like a normal human being.” Context has to come into question here. Were the police being transphobic and saying that the victim was not normal because she was trans, or was the comment about acting like a normal human being perhaps related to the victim’s state, given that she had just thrown up? Could the witnesses have misheard exactly what was said? Like I said, so many questions and nowhere is there a full start to finish detailed account of all the events that led up to this episode.
So, Protest Transphobia have created an event called Protest Police Transphobia. It was originally to be held at West End Central Police station. This was then changed to Charing Cross Police station. In actual fact it transpires that the arresting officers could have come from one of three stations, Charing Cross, Belgravia or Paddington. This means that there is only a one in three chance that the protest will even be at the correct Police station! If they pick the wrong one then it’s really a waste of time!
Then comes the question of whether or not the victim actually wants a protest to be carried out in her name. Protest Transphobia have not been able to establish contact with her to confirm one way or another whether she wants, supports, or is even comfortable with the protest. That doesn’t seem to bother Protest Transphobia though, as they believe that clearly the victim would want this to go ahead. I guess that they aren’t actually bothered if she doesn’t want a protest as they are going ahead regardless. There is a question of respect that could be raised at this point.
Next up, does the victim identify as trans? We don’t for sure that she does. A response from the Police on the incident indicated that they were referring to the victim as Mr as she hadn’t identified herself to them as trans, TV, TS, or TG. Another unanswered question in this whole thing.
For the record I have no love of the Police force in the UK. I still refer to them as the Ungovernable Farce (after the Conflict album of the same name). That said I have no desire to protest. I don’t believe the recent incident is an indication of institutional transphobia in the Police force. In fact, we aren’t really 100% certain that it was even a transphobic happening. Despite what the Protest Transphobia mob are trying to portray I have to say that I never felt safer around the Police here in the UK. If you’d asked me 20 years ago I would have said that I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them. I’ve never experienced any problems with the Police in relation to being trans. In all honesty I have never actually really experienced any problems with the Police at all! There are also a number of servants of the force that are actually trans. So how does that fit in with the protest? How will those trans Police officers feel know that their colleagues and employers are being labelled as transphobic?
If you want to talk about Police brutality and something to protest against then take a look at this, makes me very glad that I live in the UK!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21615593
So no dear readers, I won’t be protesting against a transphobic Police force for the same reason that I didn’t protest against a transphobic media. Simple reason, because they don’t exist. You can’t protest against something that isn’t there! I hear they are looking to protest against the Catholic Church and at Parliament, on what basis I have no ideas! Watch this space when more details appear (assuming they haven’t kicked me out of the group by then LOL).
For what it’s worth I do believe in the ideals of Protest Transphobia. I actually believe that they could be a force to be reckoned with if they appointed some sensible leadership and applied some rational thought to their approach rather than the gung ho, “let’s protest” approach. Not everything needs a protest, not everything is transphobic. There might come a day that something does come up that I truly believe qualifies for a protest and on that day I will be there offering my full support. Until then I shall stand on the sidelines, trying to offer sensible discussion and input
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