I Can Tell You The Reason

As I do every morning I check Google News for trans topics to write about, this morning I came across an article about the way British and American’s are handling trans issues.

First Transgender Barrister: Transgender Issue Less A Political Football Than In US
Lexology
By FisherBroyles
July 18, 2016

Earlier this week I wrote about “a strange juxtaposition in employment discrimination law today:  The EEOC has just sued to, effectively, expand the rights of transgender people, while 23 states have just sued to, effectively, limit those rights. A unified country this is not; cracks and fissures have become the norm.

These contrasting lawsuits perfectly parallel the divide — the polarization – in the country today.  As always, the workplace is the perfect battleground, the perfect microcosm for society’s political and cultural battles.  The workplace always sits on society’s many fault lines.”

A number of readers commented, but one comment in particular caught my eye.

“I was just reading your piece about the way transgender law is pulling in different directions in the US.

I was the first barrister in the UK to transition from male to female in practice at the UK discrimination bar, and regularly act for employers in such matters in the UK, which are becoming increasingly common.

We have recently had a report written by a committee of the House of Commons in the UK which is likely to be adopted and which will strengthen and widen protection for gender non typical individuals in the UK.  I think it is much less of a political football here than in the US.  We have fairly recently adopted same-sex marriage rights and that had very wide support.

I can tell you the reason in one word why the two counties are so different in their approach to us; it is “Politics.”

The Republicans cater to the far right conservative Christians and they are using us to gain votes. They see us as a wedge issue that can get them votes, they don’t care about what they are doing to us all they care about is votes.