Standing Tall Issue 2 Released ! !

Issue 2 of Standing Tall has been released. Here is my editorial from the issue ! !

Welcome to the second edition of Standing Tall, the LGBT+ Magazine for Blackburn with Darwen, By LGBT+ people for LGBT+ People.

So, a new year is upon us and it is a very important one for all LGBT+ people in the UK as it is an election year. While Labour is on course for a crushing landslides according to the polls it is not guaranteed.

Why is this important for LGBT+ People? Well the current government has set a dangerous president so far regarding LGBT+ rights. Especially against Transgender people but the community at large. The National press is no better also. The latest census puts the LGBT+ population at about 5 million in England and Wales, while the transgender population is 260k, with non-binary, intersex and a-gender people included. The breakdown is there are 48k Trans Men and 48k Trans Women in England and Wales yet daily newspapers like the Daily Mail put out derogative articles about transgender people at a rate of 2-3 per day.

The government encourages this. Lee Anderson MP, who was until recently a Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, said the next election will be fought on “the woke agenda”.

The Trans Guidelines for schools, that was recently published, basically instructs teachers to out trans pupils to their parents. This can be very dangerous on multiple levels. One of the hardest things a trans person does is come out to their family. They are scared of being rejected, becoming homeless, or getting abuse at home. This can lead to a rise in the already high suicide rates. This is Section 28 in all but name again.

So while Labour is by no means perfect, Rosie Duffield MP comes to mind, it is a lot better for LGBT+ people than the current government.