‘Trans Women Are Women, Get Over It!’ Stonewall takes on anti-trans rhetoric
Stonewall has re-imagined its famous slogan to show support for transgender equality.
The LGBT+ rights advocacy charity launched its flagship ‘Some People are Gay. Get Over it!’ campaign back in 2007, with variants of the slogan tackling homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia – and latterly transphobia and racism – adorning t-shirts.
It adapted the slogan this week, selling a new range of t-shirts taking on anti-transgender views.
Get over it! Stonewall)
The new t-shirts bear the slogans ‘Trans Women Are Women. Get Over It!’, ‘Trans Men Are Men. Get Over It!’, and ‘Some People Are Non-Binary. Get Over It!’.
The announcement led to a wave of criticism and abuse directed at Stonewall on social media.
The group Man Friday, which protests against trans-inclusive policies, said: “Trans women are obviously not women hence this massive, growing pushback.”
A Twitter user added: “Awesome! Are you also going to be printing shirts that claim ‘Christians are Atheists,’ ‘Vegans Eat Meat,’ ‘The Earth is Flat,’ ‘Fire is Cold,’ and sundry other outright lies and easily disproven claims that serve to out their wearers as delusional, stupid, or both? ”
Another added: “It’s offensive to gay men and lesbians, let alone all women, to transpose this slogan for the purposes of trans fundamentalism. Trans and gay are not equivalent.”
Stonewall march at Pride in London (Getty)
The pushback comes as the government consults on changes to the Gender Recognition Act, to allow transgender people to more easily gain legal recognition.
The relatively minor changes do not impact single-sex space provision or anti-discrimination laws, but anti-trans campaigners have nonetheless vowed to oppose them.
Stonewall is urging people to weigh in on the consultation in favour of reforms.
It said: “The fight for equality is far from over. Speak up for trans rights and help reform the Gender Recognition Act.
“The UK Government is consulting on vital new rights for trans and non-binary people. This could be a huge step forward for trans equality. It is crucial that the Government sees trans people and allies coming out in support.
“Failure to secure these reforms would not just hold back trans people’s rights, it would represent a major setback in our collective efforts to secure LGBT rights and equality.
“That’s why we need you to come out in support, get your friends, family and networks involved, and show that people across Britain support trans people’s right to be accepted and live free from hate.”
Stonewall CEO Ruth Hunt (Stonewall)
Stonewall only began to campaign on transgender issues in 2015.
Under former chief exec Ben Summerskill, the charity had insisted that it would only work on gay, bisexual and lesbian issues.
However, the policy was swiftly scrapped when Summerskill was replaced with current CEO and outspoken trans ally Ruth Hunt.
