Glasgow Roller Derby reaffirms our support for the LGBTQIA+ community this Pride month and all year round.

For a while, it seemed like the UK was becoming a rainbow utopia with marriage equality and an updated gender recognition act enabling gender changes without involving doctors. If you didn’t scratch the surface too much and realise there was something nasty hiding under the glitter, that is.

It would be fair to say that we’ve been disabused of those wishful notions over the last year or so - most strikingly by the Supreme Court ruling on the Equality Act’s reference to “biological sex” (whatever that means). Certain vocal celebrities with more money than empathy or understanding of science have mobilised their resources to crush our trans siblings and do their best to exclude them from public life for the crime of a) existing and b) needing a pee sometimes.

The UK has had a meteoric fall from grace in the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) rainbow map rankings, from number one in 2015 to its lowest ranking to date this year. The Equality Act ruling likely had a significant impact, but there is further to fall with u-turns on planned legislation against conversion therapy from both the Scottish and Westminster governments.

However, despite all the fanfare over big gay weddings, trans people were still waiting literal years for gender-affirming healthcare, and trans youth can no longer access that care at all. Globally, LBTQIA+ people are more likely to live in poverty, be unemployed or homeless, have worse mental health, lack access to healthcare and experience physical and sexual violence than others. There are plenty of places where LGBTQIA+ people have to think twice when going on holiday, because who they are is illegal, or consider whether or not being out at work could be to their detriment.

There’s a lot of money being explicitly directed against the rights of LGBTQIA+ people - Oxfam quotes a statistic that from 2021 to 2022, just three of many anti-LGBTQIA+ organisations got more funding than all of the 8000+ pro-LGBTQIA+ organisations around the world put together. It’s pretty frightening to think of all that money and power being rallied in a world where our so-called leaders are quaking in their boots and stepping back from previously politically-convenient positions on LGBTQIA+ rights, because the wind is blowing the other way and some vocal minorities are shouting louder.

That’s a lot of words on Pride and LGBTQIA+ rights for a sports team, right? Why are we even talking about this? We should just go away and put on the wheely shoes and get on with smashing people, right?

Wrong.

The culture of our sport has always been to support minority rights, and LGBTQIA+ rights in particular. Our governing body, WFTDA, updated their gender policy (https://resources.wftda.org/wftda-gender-statement-clarification-update/) earlier this year to reinforce the membership’s commitment to inclusivity. This culture of inclusivity fosters a queer-positive environment, and any rollback of rights would impact on our sport and our teams fundamentally.

Our political leaders have shown their weakness in the face of well-financed opposition by niche groups, so we can’t trust them to do the right thing. If we do nothing and say nothing, the people we love are going to be trampled and excluded. Trans people in particular are being targeted and we all need to show our support - not just posting Trans Rights Are Human Rights on our Insta story (though it’s a start), but by taking real-world actions to influence our political system, giving what we can to support relevant causes, being vocal, and amplifying the voices of trans people and organisations. Cis allies have power and don’t face the same negative reactions. Trans people are TIRED, and they need our support.

So how can we best show that support practically in this moment?

Inform yourself and those around you
Have difficult conversations with family.
Sign petitions - we need your support.
Give money: https://campaigns.allout.org/donate/
Write to your MP: https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/