16 Days: Day 17 – Violence Against Transgender People

Over the past two and a half weeks, this blog has marked the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence event by highlighting many of the campaigns and issues touching on violence against women. The focus of these posts has been on violence against women as this is the theme of this year’s event. However, a notable exception to this discussion has been the issue of violence against transgender people.

Transphobia encompasses not just the revulsion and irrational fears of transgender and transsexual people, but also includes cross dressers, feminine men, and masculine women. Therefore, it covers complex issues of gender roles and gender identities.

Transgender people are often denied legal recognition in their preferred gender identity. Such is the legal situation in Ireland, as has been discussed on this blog here and here. Yet, the prejudices and injustices experienced by transgender people are not limited to the lack of legal recognition.

Violence, based on their gendered status, is regularly experienced by many transgender people. November 20^th last, marked the 11^th Annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance, which commemorates the fact that every day, all over the world, thousands of trans people are excluded, persecuted, hated, mistreated, subjected to aggression and routinely murdered or driven to suicide because of the transphobia of others.

Recently, the Transgender Equality Network Ireland published an excellent report ‘Transphobia in Ireland’. We want to draw readers’ attention to this much needed research.

Gender Recognition Legislation in the New Year?

The Irish Examiner reports today that, on foot of a Green Party proposal, legislation ‘allowing transsexuals to be recognised in their acquired gender’ will go before the Dail in the new year. The Examiner reports that ‘the state has dropped an appeal of a High Court decision that it is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights in not having a process and a register legally to recognise the acquired gender of transsexual persons.’ Tanya blogged about the proposals for gender recognition legislation in the new Programme for Government in some depth here. We hope to provide commentary when details of the proposed legislation emerge.

Update: Great video interview with Lydia Foy and Michael Farrell of FLAC here.

Hat-tip: One of our readers, Cat McIlroy, says

I spoke with Dr. Foy’s solicitor this afternoon to clarify the appeal statement in the Irish Examiner – neither he nor Lydia has heard anything regarding the Government dropping the appeal.

Thanks Cat!

New Programme for Government Promises the Introduction of Gender Recognition Legislation

Next Monday it will be two years since Mr Justice Liam McKechnie handed down his groundbreaking decision in Foy v An tArd Chlaraitheoir (No 2). In that case His Lordship issued the first ever Declaration of Incompatibility between Irish law and Ireland’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. The cause of the incompatibility was the inability of Irish law to recognise the preferred gender identity of transgender people.

The Declaration should have put in motion a series of events which would have resulted in the Taoiseach reading the order into the records of each House of the Oireachtas within 21 working days (s5 of the ECHR Act, 2003). However, as this was the first time such an order had been handed down, His Lordship put a stay of two months on the implementation of the order to give the State the opportunity to decide whether to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. On Friday, March 28^th 2008 notice of such an appeal was lodged with the Supreme Court. The case has yet to be listed for hearing.