I need to fight against LGBT+ hatred

This is a subject that causes me and I’m sure many others much concern and I feel it’s something I want to voice my thoughts on.

When I first announced to the world that I was transgendered back at the end of the 90s the world felt like it was changing very slowly for the better.

The gay community was slightly ahead of the trans community in terms of understanding and acceptance but it felt overall like it was going in the right direction.

I recall at the time I felt if this acceptance continued to grow life would not be quite so difficult. I felt hopeful.

Then there has been the response to all of the public speaking I have done over the years. I’ve spoken in person to all sorts of groups and agencies who were keen to listen. One time I was even the main stage speaker at an event in front of over 2000 people! I’ve been on national and local TV and radio and was a regular guest on BBC Radio Nottingham talking about my journey.

The feedback was always overwhelmingly positive with people saying how much they had learnt about the complexities of being part of the LGBT+ world.

I truly hoped everyone who heard me speak went away with just a tiny bit more understanding. If they did, and they passed that on to others it would help everyone get along better.

25 years later and I have sat reading through some peoples comments and then digging into their profiles on Facebook recently and It’s actually really depressing.

I understand that when people are online they become very brave and think they can say what they like. But when you dig into their profile you see “Hatred” running all the way through everything their lives.

Not just hatred towards the LGBT+ community but hatred towards just about anyone who isn’t a mirror of themselves and this is evidenced with their unwillingness to even respect peoples right to be different.

All of this leads me to think that instead of progressing from where we were in the 90s we have instead gone a long way backwards.

I think that although the laws have changes over time to offer protection to many minorities, many of our political and community leaders are openly hostile towards us and this empowers others to openly express their hatred hatred thinking they are safe, Maybe they even think they are holding up societies “standards”.

For people like me we need to make a stand and not allow this decline to continue. To tell our leaders we have had enough and they need to understand the danger they are exposing us to. We need to make society understand that we are as good as anyone else and that we have the same moral compass as the best of them.

We need to stand together for positive changes before it’s too late.