TL;DR: Though Labour conference was a lacklustre affair from an LGBTQIA+ perspective, there were a couple of notable moments from the fringes which are worth picking up on - including a new HIV action plan, and Stonewall's new boss taking his first actions.
Whatever you think about the Labour party, their approach to governing with the LGBTQIA+ community in mind has been different from that of their predecessors in some encouraging ways. We should welcome the to Foreign secretary flying the bisexaul pride flag for Bi Awareness Week. But there are a number or notable exceptions, which have lost them a great deal of trust already.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting's adoption of the final-hour puberty blocker bans was the first knock to the community’s confidence in the new government. Streeting's stated intent to make this ban permanent while extending it to Northern Ireland confirmed what many Trans+ activists said in the run-up to the election: Labour are not an ally to the community.
Streeting provided further evidence for that position when he and Equality Minister Anneliese Dodds met with a range of queer third-sector groups at conference this week - though trans organisations were in the mix, everyone at the table was white, with no Black or Asian groups invited.
Outside the conference, trans rights activists rallied to try and shine a spotlight on the party’s failures in its short time in government so far. Meanwhile, Jess Phillips MP faced criticism for appearing on a panel organised by anti-trans group Labour Women’s Declaration.
But while there was little more specific news on where the party stands on Trans+ rights, many political pundits agree that the conference delivered the clearest vision yet of what Labour stands for more broadly. Here are our three clear queer takeaways.
New Stonewall Boss takes his first public action
In one of his first actions as the new Stonewall boss, Simon Blake joined a panel with women and equalities minister Anneliese Dodds. The panel did not have a Trans+ person on it but did feature LGBT Labour’s leader, Pastor Augustine Tanner-Ihm and Vodafone Foundation's Colm McGuire (who has produced hate crime reporting apps for Stonewall) - Attitude
Blake has a background in a number of third-sector roles, including experience at the National Union of Students, and was a former Deputy Chair of Stonewall - Stonewall
He used the opportunity to push Stonewall's current 'Hold My Hand' campaign about hate crime. The charity is calling on the government to make anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime an Aggravated Offence, so LGBTQ+ people have "the same protections as people who face hate crime due to racism or religious discrimination ". This would bring the law in line with recommendations from the Law Commission. Alongside this they want there to be a national 'Hate Crime Strategy and Action Plan' that tackles barriers to LGBTQIA+ reporting.
New promise of refreshed HIV action plan
Streeting joined Terrence Higgins Trust's reception to announce Labour will release a new HIV action plan to get the UK ‘back on track’ to stop new transmissions by 2030 - Sophie Perry
The target to end HIV by 2030 is a global one, and seen by many in the HIV sector as a useful goal to unite organisations around the world. However, speaking in a Q&A session after a live recording of The Love Tank and QueerAF's The Other Blue Pill podcast last month, many of the guests shared hesitations on whether it was still possible - Podcast
Notably, the Health Secretary recognised the UK is not on track to meet the target and that sexual health services are under great strain. He also hinted that it was time to stop treating PrEP as a "specialist medication that is only for gay people and can only be accessed through specialist clinics." This nods to campaigns like 'digital PrEP' which are designed to find ways other than sexual health clinics to get the life-saving drugs into the hands of people that need them, without the barriers that exist for people who face increased stigma around using these medications.
Lord Waheed Ali caught in media storm
The biggest story around this conference has not been about policies, or what the leadership has said, but about the donations Starmer and his top team have accepted.
Lord Waheed Ali, a business and media tycoon - who happens to be gay - has been a focus of media attention recently. He's been a significant donor not only to the Labour Party, but to many of the UK's largest LGBTQIA+ organisations as well.
His gifts have resulted in weeks of uncomfortable headlines for Labour, and scrutiny over his relationship with the party. He has given a number of gifts and large donations to the party and its leading figures over the years. Though he is a Labour lord, he has only spoken a handful of times in the upper house - BBC
Analysis
The party wants to be seen as progressive - but not divisive - which means doing some work for the LGBTQIA+ community but avoiding saying the word trans wherever possible. Indeed, by focusing on queer issues that already have broad support instead of leading the change. That’s a problem when our community’s most marginalised group has been pushed into a space where people are afraid to even name them - let alone do what’s right.
Today is World News Day, a campaign that hundreds of media companies - including us - mark as we try to hold ourselves, as an industry, accountable for what news is supposed to be about.
This year's theme is 'Choose Truth' which, frankly, should be the default position of news organisations. But in a 'post truth era' where misinformation spreads like wildfire - it's timely. Though we'd go one further and say - lead with the truth. But that's not enough, to fix the industry we need a fundamental change.
We joke a lot about our not-so-secret queer militant agenda at QueerAF - our plan to pack the newsroom full of us, to change the news industry so it works for us, not against us.
This week's QueerAF newsletter was written by two Trans+ journalists, alongside me.
What do you think about that? Trans+ journalists being invested in to build media careers - and talk about the issues they know (and can report on) best?
It's different, we know. But imagine if it wasn't?
We're a small independent media outlet. We're proud to punch above our weight. We're proud to be making this the new normal.
And as the only queer publication to be both press regulated and be registered as a community interest company that has locked its profits and assets into the community - we do all of our work on a shoestring budget.
Imagine what we could do with a budget like the mainstream media has?
As well as investing in more reporting, we could also deliver more queer media professionals into the industry - so they can create better representation right across the board.
We're modelling the change at QueerAF to show it's possible. If you want to see us help more:
- People understand the LGBTQIA+ news
- Editors and media organisations develop better representation of our community
- Queer creatives build media careers so they can change the industry for all of us
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