Once again this October, it is essential to raise our voices to demand the rights of transgender people. From Ortzadar LGBT Elkartea, we shout loud and clear, today and every day, that everyone must be free to be and to feel, to fully live their sexual and gender identity. The path toward this freedom and non-discrimination is proving to be very, very long and arduous. It seems unbelievable, but we had to wait until 2019 for the WHO to remove transsexuality from its list of mental illnesses. And progress remains far too slow in too many areas: social, medical, administrative, official…
Transphobic rhetoric is gaining strength and has become commonplace, to the point that some institutions have ended up reproducing it. And we’re not talking about something that happens in geographically distant places or in so-called developing countries; even in the so-called first world, the far right threatens the freedoms of the entire LGBTI+ community. There is an international anti-rights movement that is spreading across the globe.
In our immediate surroundings, in the Basque Country, there has been progress. That is undeniable. A recent example is the approval in the Basque Parliament of Law 4/2024, of February 15, on non-discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and recognition of the rights of trans people.
But beware, because we’re not safe here either. We face two major threats: on the one hand, the far right embodied by VOX, and on the other, some TERF institutional representatives who make trans identities invisible and deny them.
On the other hand, within a movement that is essential in the fight for equality and diversity, such as feminism, there are sectors that deny a reality such as that of trans women.
It is exhausting to deal with all sorts of discourses that encourage discrimination and that stem from a lack of knowledge, ignorance or, simply, from not wanting to know, from intolerance and hatred.
Situations like these highlight the need for institutions to implement tangible and effective policies, going beyond mere declarations of intent. In the healthcare sector, for example, Osakidetza (the Basque Health Service) urgently needs to develop primary care centers of excellence and a specialized unit staffed with personnel trained to address diversity and all its realities. And in the workplace, companies must establish measures to promote the employment of transgender people and eradicate all forms of discrimination.
And all of this must be based on an educational system that sends young people out into the world who defend diversity as one of their most genuine principles and values.
From Ortzadar LGBT Elkartea we will continue working. For the freedom to be and feel.
