Hear it from us
For the month of February, which is LGBT+ History Month, leave aside the moral panics and listen to us tell our own stories, says Rob Agnew, a member of the BPS Sexualities Section.
02 February 2023
LGBT+ History month has kicked off this year in the middle of several moral panics. It started with the Scottish gender recognition legislation being blocked by Westminster because of the 'threat to British legislation'. Then it seemed to morph into a highly specific and rare issue of a trans-woman with a history of sex offences against women possibly being detained in a female prison… and now Sam Smith seems to have overridden all of this quite easily because they're a chubby non-binary person allegedly sexualising our youth by wearing a corset in a music video.
As a gay man, I'm watching this all play out around me with a modicum of disbelief but with a large helping of deja-vu. The same exaggerated outrage, devices and arguments that I remember from my childhood and adolescence in the 80s and 90s used against LGB people are once again finding their way into Good Morning Britain and other semi-credible news-type programmes to be used against our trans siblings. Guest speakers deliver, with great authority, their opinions and concerns across three-to-10 minutes of air-time … followed by the weather. The weather which deserves, it seems, above all other topics, to be written and interpreted by an actual qualified scientist because it is far too important to leave up to someone who did a degree in English literature and a diploma in broadcast journalism.
"Bah! Elitism!" I hear you shout. My point is that these are issues that cannot be explored in minutes with any other effect than to inflame the already highly flammable and to further minimise and erase those who already struggle for visibility and voice. The weight given to the theories of an endless supply of self-declared 'social commentators', reality show contestants and ex-choreographers with no authentic background or insight is a sign of the reluctance to actually move the conversation forward.
Consider also, we have academics like Kathleen Stock releasing books about the invalidity of trans identities, JK Rowling (who wrote children's books about witches and wizards) stoking the same types of arguments about the vulnerability and fragility of women and children, which were used against gay men and Black people to justify overruling their rights in the 20th century. Then within psychology we have anomalous entities like Jordan Peterson who would question the use of some 'contentious' pronouns… but himself got famous for selling books which touted the idea that humans are similar to lobsters in a very important way.
It's interesting isn't it, that when I leave some important things out, I can make anyone look silly, wrong and worthless if it suits my argument. Really, you need to know more to make a judgement on them. You'd need to know some background, some history.
See LGBT+ History month as an invitation and a celebration of how, despite our differences, there has been a general forward direction for our communities together. Watch our shows (Drag Race doesn't count), buy a book by Judith Butler, Google Peter Tatchell, go to Duckie in Vauxhall on a Saturday… if you leave late and you see Glendora wrestling her way up the road in stilettos handing out wristbands, tell her I told you to say 'Hai girl'. There's loads you can do.
Whatever it is, do it in the spirit of being proud of how LGBTQ+ people and our allies have been resolute, strong and compassionate in the face of adversity. Pay homage with us to the parents, teachers, artists, activists and (most importantly) the nobodies, who taught us these values. Appreciate with us the seriousness, the silliness, the pain and the joys of our journey.
But, for the month of February, hear it from us.
For a live list of LGBT+ History month events check out: https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/calendar
If you would like to represent psychology as an LGBTQ+ person or ally on behalf of the BPS then consider joining the Psychology of Sexualities Section; find out what we do by visiting our microsite.
Rob Agnew is a committee member of the Psychology of Sexualities Section, an associate fellow of the BPS and a clinical psychologist in private practice.
The views expressed in this blog are the writer's own and not those of the BPS.