Whilst there is a bigoted anti-trans backlash in the UK, as seen in the bad legislation under discussion here and Rowling destroying her reputation on twitter, I do think some Americans are a bit over-attached to the view that the UK is uniquely transphobic (“TERF island” etc.) In reality, (binary) trans people can use whatever bathroom they like anywhere in the UK, whereas 5 US states have banned them from doing so in the last 3 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathroom_bill#United_States The impression that the UK must be much worse than the US on this seems confounded by a) the fact that most people angry about it live in the most liberal places in the US, and b) the fact that the UK lacks much of Christian right, so people phrasing their opposition to trans inclusion in feminist/liberal terms is partly a product of that, not just “they are so transphobic that even the liberals and feminists are anti-trans”.
Actually, Wikipedia is characterizing the US bills a bit misleadingly: at least the one I looked at is not a full legal ban on trans women using women’s bathrooms, but seemed to only cover schools specifically.
not an answer but what the hell is going on over there
Whilst there is a bigoted anti-trans backlash in the UK, as seen in the bad legislation under discussion here and Rowling destroying her reputation on twitter, I do think some Americans are a bit over-attached to the view that the UK is uniquely transphobic (“TERF island” etc.) In reality, (binary) trans people can use whatever bathroom they like anywhere in the UK, whereas 5 US states have banned them from doing so in the last 3 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathroom_bill#United_States The impression that the UK must be much worse than the US on this seems confounded by a) the fact that most people angry about it live in the most liberal places in the US, and b) the fact that the UK lacks much of Christian right, so people phrasing their opposition to trans inclusion in feminist/liberal terms is partly a product of that, not just “they are so transphobic that even the liberals and feminists are anti-trans”.
Actually, Wikipedia is characterizing the US bills a bit misleadingly: at least the one I looked at is not a full legal ban on trans women using women’s bathrooms, but seemed to only cover schools specifically.
A not insignificant portion of funding for transphobia in the UK and EU comes from evangelists in the US.
Yeah I’m Aussie so I think both are pretty deranged