TUC LGBT+ workers' conference
The TUC LGBT+ workers’ conference was held at the end of June in London. And this year’s theme was allyship, unity & solidarity. A range of topics were up for discussion including the horrific government decisions to detail LGBT+ refugees (most of whom are arriving through legal means and fleeing persecution in their own country, only to be detained and then deported to another unsafe country), the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, pay gap reporting, and the rights of Trans & non-binary workers.
Conference was opened by a minute silence for Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old trans woman who was murdered in February 2023. This set the tone for conference as Maria Exall, the first out LGBT+ president of the TUC, said:
Transphobia is the gateway to the suppression of all LGBT+ people. Trans misogyny is part of the problem of misogynism that all women face and political parties are accommodating a morale panic to divide us on this issue.
Where reactionary forces try to divide us, we must unite. We must challenge the direct attacks that are being made on the employment rights of Trans people. We must fight to ensure the loophole on conversion therapy for Trans people is closed – when the government finally make good on their word. And we must resist changes in education that seek to effectively bring back Section 28 by the back door.
Maria Exall, TUC President
The social model of disability
The social model of disability