Emma Watson Comes Forward In Support Of Trans Rights

We stan an a woke legend.

Emma Watson hascome forward in support of Trans rights as UKactivists urge people to fill out a government-led public consultation to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA).

The Gender Recognition Act is a ground-breaking piece of legislation that came into action in 2004, allowing people with gender dysphoria to change their legal gender, but now campaigners are seeking to alter the law.

Emma Watson at the BAFTA Los Angeles Tea Party.

Getty

Emma Watson at the BAFTA Los Angeles Tea Party.

Activists are now fighting to have the GRA changed to allow people to self-identify their gender without rigorous medical checks to prove they’re living in their truth, and Emma’s support is bringing the fight into the mainstream spotlight.

In a photo on Twitter,the actorwears a white t-shirt with the slogan ‘Trans Rights are Human Rights’, alongside tagging multiple trans and LGBTQ+ organisations.

And Watson’s show of support has received positive praise from a number of campaigners and charities.

The reason it's so important that Emma - a feminist - is taking a public stand in support of reform is that not everyone is in support of it.Less intersectional feminists (and particularly a group known as Trans-exclusionary radical feminists or TERFs)are arguing that allowing trans people to self-identify their own personal gender could open the doors to predatory men entering female-only spaces.

But this narrative is pretty problematic as it forgets that trans rights and women's rights are not mutually exclusive concepts. It also supports a fairly transphobic misunderstanding, because trans women ARE women, not men.

These beliefs reinforcefalse stereotypes regarding a segregated part of our society, with the people which exist within that segregation being some of the most vulnerable and the most in need of this reform. Positive changes like this reform couldsavelives.

A Twitter user took to the social media site to explain why, as a cis-woman, she is more offended by individuals’ transphobia than “by any trans person ever [sic].” It’s a thread.

If you wish to use your voice for good, and change, then you can still respond to the GRA campaign here – it takes a few minutes to complete. The deadline is Friday 19th October.

Stonewall have written a very simple explainer to help you understand more on the matter here.