Kira Herdman

Last week the UK Labour Party abstained from the vote for the Scottish GRA 2022 Section 35 that the Conservative Party wanted to do to block the act from getting Royal Asset. Only 11 MP’s from the Labour Party voted to block it, though I should note that none voted for it to go ahead. What I can figure out, the reason why they did this is they are not happy the age has been lowered from 18 to 16. Everything else in the act I get the idea they are very happy with so in this post I am going to give some reasons why I think they should have voted to block it. Here is what you currently can do after you turn 16 in Scotland You can join the Armed Forces at 16, though you are not allowed on the front line at that age. Personally I joined the Army at 16 myself. You can legally have a baby at 16. You can vote (in Scotland) at 16. You can get married at 16. You can leave home at 16 without your parents consent. You can apply for your own home through the local council. Buy wine, beer or cider i

This week has been a very bad week politics wise for the LGBT+ community and especially the Transgender community. Since we transgender people only make up 0.5% of the population of England and Wales, this current government has been very, shall we say, nasty towards us. BUT this week started off bad from an unexpected corner. Kier Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, the party that I am a member of, the party I am also LGBT Officer for my local Constituency Labour Party, on Sunday came out with some really bad comments on TV. Recently the Scottish government passed a motion that allows transgender people in Scotland to get a GRC (Gender Recognition Certificate) from the age of 16 and without a medical diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria. While anyone 18+ has a cool-off period of 3 months, those between 16-18 have to wait 6 months. While in the UK this is groundbreaking, around the world it is not. Ireland for instance has a similar law, Argentina has had one for 10 years without any pro

Well, this week as been an important week for me so far. Monday I was elected as the LGBT Officer and Disability Officer for my local Labour CLP. Tuesday I started volunteering at the British Hart Foundation, tomorrow representatives from GIS Leeds is visiting my local LGBT group, which should be interesting to say the least. I am on the waiting list for the GIS in Leeds so a lot of questions will ask about the waiting times and what it entails. Also, during these past few weeks I have been feeling a lot more comfortable in who I am, what I want and be happy in myself. I know I will never pass, I still have thoughts about self harming (thanks to Gender Dysphoria) but after getting a cheap dress from PLT and wearing it I thought, yes, this is how I want to be, this is 100% me, this is the woman I should have been. Just a simple thing like a dress. Amazing. Now I want to get all the dresses I can get my hands on, but I can’t as I can’t afford it, but over the next 6-12 months I want to g

So, the ONS has released its census for its Gender Identity survey it did in 2021 for England and Wales, and the results are well, not a shock for people in the LGBT+ community but I bet for people outside the community. Gender identity refers to a person’s sense of their own gender, whether male, female or another category such as non-binary. This may or may not be the same as their sex registered at birth. The question on gender identity was new for Census 2021. It was added to provide the first official data on the size of the transgender population in England and Wales. The data will help to: provide better quality information for monitoring purposes support anti-discrimination duties under the Equality Act 2010 aid allocation for resources and policy development The question was voluntary and was only asked of people aged 16 years and over. People were asked “Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?”, and had the option of selecting either “Yes”, o