The best memorial to Vicky Thompson? To fight for trans rights
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Version 0 of 1. Vicky Thompson’s death should never have happened, but it must not be for nothing. She was a trans woman locked away in a men’s prison. She had told her friends she would take her own life if she was sent there. On Thursday her death was announced, and police said the situation was not being treated as suspicious. Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance: when we remember trans people who have died, either at the hands of others, or their own. Vicky Thompson is one precious life whose loss adds to a terrible death toll, an indictment of societies that are yet to accept trans people and their rights. This follows the case of Tara Hudson, who identified as a woman ever since she became an adult, and who spoke of being sexually harassed in an all-male prison. The law is simply not working. For people living for years as women to be sent to serve sentences in prisons for men is inviting disaster, as this case shows. The evidence about the level of mental distress experienced by trans people is frightening. Research in the United States suggests that around four in 10 trans people attempt to end their own lives at some point, nearly 10 times the rate for the wider population. We live in a society where trans people face prejudice and discrimination from all directions: not just from straight, non-trans (“cis”) men and women, but from cis gay and bisexual men and women, too. High-profile figures such as Caitlyn Jenner stand on the shoulders of the achievements of trans people that went before them. But they should not leave us with any illusions about how far we are from trans equality. Prisons are one battleground; another is the public loo. In the US, rightwing Republicans have attempted to ban trans people from using toilets appropriate for their gender. There is a website that charts the death toll of transgender women. Reading it is sobering: Tamara Dominguez, “repeatedly run over by vehicle” in Kansas City; Kandis Capri, shot to death in Phoenix, Arizona. The backlash against trans rights has so many echoes with the struggles of others in the past – for example, gay people. The same disgust, mockery, rejection. It is a prejudice that is internalised, with all-too destructive consequences. It is notable that trans activists are often accused of being too aggressive, too strident when facing their detractors. But the same was said about women who fought for the right to vote, or black people who fought for their civil liberties, or gay people who fought for their freedoms. We are not yet living in a society where trans people can get on with their lives without the hindrance of prejudice and discrimination. But when avoidable tragedies, such as that of Vicky Thompson, occur, the best memorial is surely to renew our efforts to get there. |