Concerned about the growing level of anti-transgender stories in the media and the increased introduction of legislation in the USA, rights activist Jackie Turner is setting up a dedicated national transgender rights organisation in Australia.
OUTinPerth spoke to Turner about what the proposed Trans Justice Project will do and how she needs the the local LGBTIQA+ communities and their allies to help with the initial fundraising.
Using fundraising website Chuffed Turner set a goal of raised $30,000 to get the new project started and with just a few days left to reach the target more help is needed.
“We’re starting a project called The Trans Justice Project, we’re dedicated to building a movement for justice and equality for all trans and gender diverse people and dedicated to pushing back.
“I think many of us in the community have been worried about what’s happening in the U.S. and in thew U.K. and the impacts on the trans community there. In the U.S. we’ve seen hundreds of anti-trans bills just this year, and rising hate crimes in the U.K. as well, and many of those groups are setting up in Australia now.” Turner said.
So far in 2023, 432 bills which have been described as anti-transgender’ have been submitted across the USA, so far 8 have been passed, 34 have failed and 390 remain active in different federal and state legislatures.
The number of bills seeking to limit transgender health care, access to bathrooms and legal recognition have been growing steadily over the last four years.
Website Translegislation.com which tracks the number and progress of bills has reported that while there were 141 bills introduced in 2020, with only 18 ultimately being successfully passed, the number of bills put forward within the first two months of 2023 has been significantly higher.
“What we’ve seen other places is that it’s not what people are thinking about trans people now, it’ll be in three years’ time when we are having the next federal election or something like that.” Turner said.
The focus of the Trans Justice Project will be campaigning, building and connecting to build a strong movement that supports people who are transgender and ensures their voices are heard.
“We’ll focus on issues around trans health care, around enhancing tans lives, reducing the impact of poverty, unemployment homelessness and violence, but also working to build leadership in the trans community.
“We need more campaigners and advocates who can speak about their experiences, talking to the public about what it really means to be trans and what life is like for us.” Turner said.
Toxic social media environments are one of the challenges people who are transgender have to content with once they start speaking up about their lives, something Turner herself has had to contend with.
“I think being trans online means getting a lot of trolling, but thankfully we find a lot of people who are very supportive too.” Turner said, sharing that as soon as she stepped into her previous position as a spokesperson on transgender issues for Equality Australia, she experienced the negative side of social media.
“This stuff isn’t going to go away, and if we don’t fight, we don’t improve our live or the lives of young transgender people.”
Jackie Turner said she’d been overwhelmed by the contributions to fundraising campaign to date and was hopeful that they’ll reach their target by the end of this week.
Standing up to the well-funded organisations who are dedicated to fighting against transgender people’s rights and recognition is going to be a significant task.
National organisations including Binary Australia, which morphed out of former anti-same-sex-marriage body The Marriage Alliance, are sending out emails imploring supporters to give to their campaigns to “fight the gender agenda” several times a week. They’re joined by the Australian Christian Lobby, Family Voice Australia, Advance Australia and LGB Alliance.
“The escalation of anti-trans stuff has happened so quickly overseas, I’m worried about what it’ll be like if we let them organise ahead of us.” Turner said.
Support the Trans Justice Campaign via Chuffed.
Graeme Watson
Do you need some support?
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DISCHARGED: info@discharged.org.au / discharged.org.au
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