Non-binary people in Europe: Situation and perspectives Vic Valentine Scottish Transgender Alliance Policy Officer Equality Network vic@equality-network.org

How we started the campaign Do community research to find out the priorities of LGBTI people in Scotland Once Equal Marriage legislation had been passed LGB people were (almost) completely equal under the law Trans rights became the next priority Although we have laws in place to allow people to legally change their gender, they are far behind international best practice

Calls of the Equal Recognition campaign Remove the psychiatric diagnosis requirement from legal gender recognition Reduce the age at which people can get legal recognition of the gender they live as Provide legal recognition for people who do not identify as men or women

How have we campaigned? Via social media – with template Facebook and Twitter posts of support that people can share Postcards – asking people to sign up to show support, at relevant events (both LGBTI and not) Photo opportunities

How have we campaigned?

How have we campaigned? Directly to policy-makers: Attending political party conferences and meeting candidates/MSPs Meetings with various political parties whilst they were writing their manifestos Giving evidence to Equal Opportunities Committee at Scottish Parliament Providing information to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, which disseminates research to all MSPs

How have we campaigned? Transgender Equality Inquiry at UK Parliament Committee recommended many changes to UK gender recognition law Some success with non-binary inclusion (such as Gender X passports) Non-binary survey UK wide survey with 895 respondents Focused on experiences in services and employment, and views on legal gender recognition Gave us an evidence base on which to ask for things

Where are we now? At the end of March, we organised an LGBTI Hustings event with other LGBTI orgs before the election – the leader of each Political Party came and answered questions exclusively on LGBTI equality All made positive statements about reforming Gender Recognition law Party Manifestos – 4 of 5 parties made manifesto pledges that matched our campaign, and 1 pledged to review the law 98 of 129 MSPs now elected on pledge to implement ER calls -First ever LGBTI specific event with party leaders in the UK

Where are we now? Some media backlash Awareness raising – need the general public to understand the campaign and why it’s important Government consultation on reform – should be underway within the next year Partnership building – i.e. with Trade Unions, women’s organisations Secondary legislation – how will we deal with laws that treat men and women differently?

How did we get here? Explicitly including non-binary people in our work, training and campaigns from the beginning means that politicians, service providers etc. are more knowledgeable about NB identities Comparisons to other countries with existing laws that recognise NB people have been useful Responding proactively to media enquiries/ coverage that is inaccurate Tying in calls to Scottish government’s view of itself as “progressive” and “modern” - For example a motion submitted to the UK Parliament to push for Gender ‘X’ passports to be introduced, was signed by 48 of the 59 Scottish MPs (and only 100 MPs signed in total – so almost half of them were from Scotland!)

Contact Info: Scottish Transgender Alliance Equality Network, 30 Bernard Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6PR Office: 0131 467 6039 Email: sta@equality-network.org www.scottishtrans.org www.facebook.com/scottishtrans.org @ScottishTrans on twitter