Sal Brinton "we all know who our transwomen are and we support them"
I think this is a significant comment. There is often a very strong protective response from LibDems which seems likely driven by long term relationships with trans women including Sarah Brown and partner, Zoe O'Connell
Context is important
cf Guardian article 2013: 'Voices from the trans community: 'There will always be prejudice'
"Sarah Brown an openly trans Lib Dem councillor in Cambridge, was a man when she married Sylvia in 2001. They stayed together through Brown's transition, which began in 2005. Brown wanted to be recognised as a woman in law and she and Sylvia convinced themselves that annulling their marriage and becoming civil partners would "just be a bureaucratic exercise that didn't mean anything". When they got their decree of nullity, however, "We realised we had been wrong. We left the court holding hands, in tears," says Brown. Far from being healing, the words of their civil partnership a few weeks later were "a kick in the teeth". Even their marriage certificate was confiscated. The proposed marriage equality legislation will not allow people such as Brown to have her original marriage recognised again.
This is a source of personal heartache, but Brown is convinced that trans people's biggest single problem is access to decent healthcare. Within 24 hours of her creating the hashtag #transdocfail, she had been inundated with 2,000 tweets of trans people's negative experiences at the hands of medical professionals. "It revealed a massive level of abuse. If it was happening to any other minority it would be on the national news," says Brown. Another ongoing battle for trans people is to revise the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases (ICD) so that transsexuality is not listed as a mental illness. (Ironically, this was added to the ICD around the time homosexuality was removed; campaigners such as Burns say it is useful to be in the ICD to help trans people access healthcare but it should be "less stigmatising".)
When they finally gain access to transition procedures, most trans people are positive about their hormone treatment or surgery. More of their complaints, however, concern everyday health problems and ordinary care from GPs. Many trans people feel "absolute terror" when faced with revealing their medical history for an orthodox operation or treatment, says Brown, and believe doctors then treat them differently. "It's not just the NHS that is institutionally transphobic, it's the whole medical establishment," says Brown. "This attitude that you're not treating the person, you're treating a condition. The moment people realise you're trans, it seems they can't see anything else."
www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/22/voices-from-trans-community-prejudice
(picture of the LibDem women at yesterday's 50:50 event incl Sal Brinton & Zoe O'Connell)