[Blog/Commentary] [UK] European Parliament ‘(Trans)Gender Equality?’ conference: either shit or get off the pot
Stephanie Stevens
European Parliament ‘(Trans)Gender Equality?’ conference: either shit
or get off the pot
September 2nd, 2010
The European Parliament’s (Trans)Gender Equality? conference took
place yesterday. Video and presentations will be online at the
LGBTintergroup’s website <http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/> soon; in the
meantime, there’s a brief summary in The Parliament Magazine
<http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/call-for-new-laws-on-transgender-rights/>
:
Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson, who chairs parliament’s women’s
rights and gender equality committee, told participants that the EU
should think about changing legislation on transgender rights because
“things aren’t happening quickly enough”.
[...]
“It is 2010, and people are still being discriminated against on
the grounds of sexual orientation and gender.”
[...]
“We have got to work on these issues in parliament,” she said.
[...]
Raül Romeva i Rueda, vice-president of parliament’s lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) intergroup, [...] highlighted talk of
the ‘big g’ and ‘small t’ in the LGBT movement, saying “this is
something that needs to be changed”.
“Action is crucial, it’s urgent,” said Romeva i Rueda, also a
member of parliament’s women’s rights and gender equality committee.
“In many places it’s a question of life or death – not simply a
philosophical issue.”
[...]
Speaking on behalf of the gender equality and non-discrimination
unit in the European commission, Belinda Pyke said there was still a
“huge intolerance and ignorance about transgender issues”.
Emphasising the need to increase the “knowledge base”, she
promised to “raise more general awareness” on transgender issues, and
said it was particularly important to distinguish between sexual
orientation and gender identity.
Call me a cynic, but my reading of this is that there was a lot of
pearl-clutching and cis apologism when what we really need is direct
action today – not more talking shops which achieve nothing of any
practical use. To be blunt: either shit or get off the pot
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shit_or_get_off_the_pot> . My sisters
are dying out here while bureaucrats pontificate in their ivory
towers.
—————
Previous related posts:
* (Trans)Gender Equality?: A public conference on transgender
rights hosted by the Greens/EFA, Brussels, 1 September 2010
<http://www.birdofparadox.net/blog/?p=7928> (July 15, 2010)
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 11:20 am and
is filed under Europe, events, fine words butter no parsnips, trans
rights.