Tuesday 6 August 2013

Spousal Veto, WTF?

 http://www.c4em.org.uk/drop-the-spousal-veto/


So this is the letter I sent about that piece of shite:

Dear Lady Stowell,

I am writing to ask you to reconsider your position on the spousal veto amendment to the Gender Recognition Act.

To allow such an amendment to go through would be not just a small step backward for transgender people but a massive step backward for the whole UK - into the Victorian age.

For more than a century, people have fought and struggled for equality in marriage, to do away with the idea that one party to the union 'owned' the other. This amendment reintroduces that idea.

It is neither ethically nor morally sound to give one person control over another's physical, mental or emotional well-being, especially when the two parties are probably in the middle of an upheaval in their relationship anyway.

I am sure you know the kind of things people say and do when they're angry and confused. This amendment would just give spouses of transgender people ammunition for their anger.

I have personally seen a relationship go down the pan in part because I am transgender. (And in part because my partner was an arse...) I was told I was 'making a mistake.' I am afraid that this can be the attitude of many non-transgender people who cannot understand the despair and frustration suffered by people who find themselves stuck in the wrong body.

I hope you will consider these points when making your decision and not leave transgender people in the situation of being discriminated against as a group who need taking care of by their spouses! :D