There's a looming crisis for trans and non-binary survivors of domestic abuse

For Katrina, as for so many survivors of abuse, making the decision to flee was a huge one. The fear, the self-doubt, the uncertainty. The furtive preparations, carefully setting aside important documents and essential items ready to go at a moment’s notice. It’s a nerve-wracking time, a leap into the unknown fraught with risks.

But you count on trained professionals being out there to support and guide you, to find you safe accommodation where you can recover and plan to build your life afresh.

But Katrina’s situation is a little different. Because she’s trans. And so what kind of support she can get is – since this April’s Supreme Court ruling on the Equality Act and subsequent draft statutory guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) – now subject to a great deal of uncertainty.

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Of course trans and non-binary people aren’t often thought of as victims. The media narrative is typically that we’re a threat, particularly when it comes to trans women. But all too often victims are what trans+ people are.

There’s been nowhere near enough research into this, but what information we do have is suggestive of two points – that overall trans+ people are at greater risk of abuse, but also less likely to seek support. And with many of us having had negative experiences of various services it’s not surprising we’re often reluctant to reach out.

Over the last few years, the tiny team at Loving Me have trained around 700 professionals to work more inclusively with our community. And we’ve found time and again that organisations do want to provide a good quality, inclusive service to our community. We also operate the UK’s first domestic abuse refuge run by and for trans+ people. Over the last few years, this has offered outreach support to over 200 trans+ survivors (this part of our service has now ceased due to a lack of funding).

While it’s vital that specialist services exist – and we know from consultation undertaken by the domestic abuse commissioner our community in particular values by and for services – it’s also vital that trans+ survivors can access good quality support from general services when they need it.

But we now face a situation that has disturbing implications not just for trans+ survivors but for all survivors.

Following EHRC draft guidance, if services feel compelled to operate specifically according to “biological sex” (which seems to depend on someone glancing between your legs when you were born), this is a de facto ban for trans women.

So where do they go? Well they might access a tiny handful of specialist services, but otherwise the implication is they should access men’s services. This would mean being humiliated in order to access support (which means many individuals just not accessing services) but may also put them at greater risk. Indeed, we’ve had cases of trans women being placed in shared accommodation with men and then being sexually assaulted.

And according to the EHRC, trans+ people can also be excluded from services consistent with their “biological sex” if their appearance means there may be objections to their presence. This suggests a person of stereotypically masculine appearance may or may not be allowed to access a service depending on whether they say they’re a butch woman or a trans man.

And of course, it’s to be left to frontline workers to implement any gender policing. So in dealing with traumatised, distressed individuals who often have little documentation and just want to be safe they’ll need to be keeping one eye on not letting any trans+ people sneak through their “biological sex” net. This potentially impacts anyone who confounds stereotypical gender norms.

And the question remains, where will trans+ people go? Both in terms of general support and refuge accommodation there isn’t enough specialist provision to deal with everyone.

At time of writing, the finalised guidance hasn’t been released and it’s unclear exactly how events will play out. But we need a commitment now that trans+ victims and survivors won’t find themselves denied vital support.

For all the endless column inches about what a dangerous menace we supposedly are, we know of numerous trans+ people who have been successfully supported as per their lived gender by women’s and men’s refuges across the UK. 

The needs of all trans+ victims and survivors isn’t going to evaporate because our identities have been declared invalid. As I write this our refuge is full, but referrals are still being received. While we’re hearing of trans women being denied accommodation or asked to leave. A crisis looms.

We’re human beings too. We deserve support and protection when we need it just as much as cisgender folks do. And we need services that treat us with the kind of dignity and respect we keep hearing we should be afforded. That means services that accept us for who we are now, not which insist on defining us according to what genitals we had as a baby.

And as a final word, there just needs to be a mention of intersex people; a group not considered in the Supreme Court ruling, nor in EHRC draft guidance but who nevertheless exist and are affected by all this too. They shouldn’t be forgotten.

Melissa is chief operating officer at Loving Me.

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