From Social Murder to Murder
Contextualising Brianna Ghey’s life within the UK trans-rights climate
Three weeks have passed since the murder of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey, a trans girl from Cheshire who was stabbed to death, in broad daylight, in a public park. Despite initial claims from Cheshire constabulary that there was “no evidence” suggesting Ghey’s murder was motivated by her gender identity, a spokesperson has more recently announced that they are investigating whether the murder was a possible hate crime. The circumstances of Ghey’s murder are notable, the time of day, age of those involved, and gender identity of the victim make the murder a uniquely politically charged case. As court dates settle on the two teenagers accused of Ghey’s murder, heads turn in the direction of politicians and lawmakers to explain how and why this might have occurred. Welsh minister Hannah Blythyn openly described the murder as a “wake up call” for politicians committed to LGBTQ+ rights. For those following the gradual backslide of trans rights within the UK, this news accompanies a dramatic rise in violence against queer people over the last decade. This report aims to contextualise Ghey’s murder amongst the institutional and social challenges facing trans people in the UK. Ultimately answering whether this is another symptom of the broader politicisation of trans existence.
The increasingly precarious existence of trans people
Numerous studies document the growing threat of violence towards queer people within the UK. Stonewall reports that 21% of queer people have experienced a gender identity or sexuality-based incident over the last 12 months. This statistic almost doubles when adjusting for only trans people, of which 41% reported experiencing an incident within the last 12 months. StopHateUK provides more evidence that trans people are uniquely at risk within the queer community, reporting that between 2020 and 2021, there were 2630 police recorded hate crimes against trans people. Furthermore, hate crimes are seriously underreported, within the 2017 national LGBT survey it was found that 88% of trans respondents didn’t report the most serious type of incident they faced.
The underreporting on violence towards trans people points towards a vast failing of the government to manage trans issues. In 2021, trans rights charity “Mermaids” attempted to spark legislative change with an open letter to parliament. This letter documented the institutional failings in harm reduction and support when it came to trans people. Schools came under fire for failing to address the fact 64% of trans pupils experienced bullying, and universities for the fact that 1 in 7 trans students considered dropping out because of harassment, both from students and staff. Mermaids mainly focusses on the suffering of trans youth, reporting that 92% of young trans people have considered suicide, and 84% have self-harmed. In their letter, the responsibility for this dramatically high level of suicidality is placed largely on a lack of understanding within schools on how to support young trans people. Ultimately though, Mermaids exposes the inadequacy of the current system of legal recognition. They expose the lack of training, and institutional barriers that when followed to their logical conclusions, help to essentially legislate trans people out of existence. The term for this is social murder.
Social murder
An old concept within sociology, Engels first coined the term in 1845 to describe the human-life consequences of conditions that are either created, or left unresolved by those with the power to do so. There is no single perpetrator, yet hundreds die for nothing other than the fact that they cannot live under the conditions in which they are placed. These deaths are preventable but often remain unchallenged because there is no obvious finger to point.
Until earlier this year, there was limited research on the extent to which trans and gender diverse people within the UK were at higher risk of fatal violence. The politicised nature of queer related crimes causes them to be highly reported on within social and legacy media. We are more likely to hear about a murder involving trans people for this reason, yet new research suggests that trans people are in fact dying at higher rates, and for preventable reasons. Jackson has provided evidence that when compared to a matched sample of cis men and women, trans mortality rates are considerably higher. The highest increase in mortality rate was for trans women, whose mortality rate was almost double that of a matched sample of cis women, and who globally account for a staggering 96% of global trans murders.
Jackson further highlights another phenomenon known as “minority stress” as a contributing factor to the increased mortality rate. Minority stress describes the further problems caused by minority groups struggling to receive institutional support, it means that often multiple minority group stresses intersect, such as race, income, disability, etc. With trans suicidality, the largest minority stress factors are consistent with those laid out in Mermaids’ open letter: Discrimination within school, work, and when accessing healthcare; healthcare is highlighted for its inadequacy particularly when dealing with trans youth.
Within the UK, there are extremely limited public services for accessing a gender dysphoria diagnosis. Diagnoses are critical for being able to then access legal gender recognition, and treatment such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or gender affirming surgery. For young people, the process usually begins with a referral from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). CAMHS has a considerable wait list, and is frequently cited as having outdated approaches to trans and non-binary health. One report describes interactions with CAMHS as “highly inflexible” and “gatekeeping”. Carlile details an experience systematically designed to discourage people from using it to access the final hurdle of receiving diagnosis: the gender identity development service (GIDS). In 2021, the wait time to see an NHS gender-specialist through GIDS was in excess of 30 months on average. For many, this is a totally unacceptable timeframe, especially when puberty blockers – one of the most effective and prescribed forms of HRT – are extremely time sensitive.
Waiting almost three years before a diagnosis could be the difference between a young person receiving necessary care or going through a puberty that exacerbates their dysphoria, and the associated comorbidities such as depression, anxiety, etc. In this respect, the increased suicidality of trans people is a direct consequence of poor healthcare provision. Many trans people choose to go private for a dysphoria diagnosis and treatment, however this throws up a class barrier for access as seeing specialist doctors and psychiatrists can be incredibly expensive.
Where does this leave trans people? In a position where schools are unequipped to support their wellbeing; where young trans people are bullied and actively discouraged and gatekept from accessing healthcare within effective timeframes. Socially, trans people are extremely likely to experience violence, harassment, and ostracization as a result of their gender expression. As a result, the increased mortality rate of trans people becomes a lot more understandable, these are hard conditions to live under.
Trans Hyper-visibility
The final, and perhaps most devastating hurdle for trans people in the UK is the increasingly politically charged discourse around their existence. Despite making up less than 1% of the population, trans rights have dominated politics in the last few years. IPSO estimates that news coverage of trans issues rose 400% between 2014 and 2019 and continues to grow. Globally, discourse surrounding trans issues has even gone as far as to tear apart media giants such as the New York Times, who recently came under fire from their own contributors for their coverage of trans and queer news. In an open letter from thousands of their contributors, the organisation was criticised for emboldening Republican officials, who frequently cited New York Times articles when advocating for anti-trans legislature.
The danger of hyper-visibility within media is that the sentiment of media is capable of emboldening people both in support and opposition of trans rights, and likely a contributing factor to the increased violence they face. Within the UK, YouGov has found that public support for trans rights has been eroding since 2018. Trans issues are frequently the subject of contentious debate, even amongst the most powerful figures in the country. When questioned during the 2022 conservative leadership hustings, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were both clear in stating they did not believe trans women were women. During the event, both prospective leaders were asked questions pertaining to queer rights, and how to deal with what was described as “wokery”.
More recently, Westminster doubled down on their erosion of trans rights by invoking article 35 for the first time ever, blocking a Scottish bill that would make it easier to gain a gender recognition certificate. Reuters reports that at a time when growing nationalist sentiment jeopardises the British union, the veto is being considered the “first of many,” threatening the tenuous autonomy Scotland has been granted.
The transphobia in Britain’s leadership manifested recently within the “update on changes to transgender prisoner policy framework”. In this update – which will primarily affect trans women – placement will largely be determined by whether or not the person in question has a penis. Consequently, a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate, who has lived as a trans woman for decades but has not undergone bottom-surgery, will be housed amongst men. This would undermine the legitimacy of the already elusive gender recognition certificate. In the government’s update report, it is not mentioned whether or not trans men who have undergone bottom surgery will be housed in men’s prisons too. As of 2022, a reported 43 trans men were being housed in women’s prisons, with no indication of whether or not they had a penis. This would of course entitle them to being housed in a prison consistent with their gender identity under the more recent 2023 legislature.
Trans people exist within a political climate where they suffer violence and discrimination both interpersonally and institutionally. Where their lives are subjects of televised debate, and their bodies invoke political action that threatens the British union. Brianna Ghey’s murder is already being considered a watershed moment for the consequences of transphobia within the UK, and her accused murderers will move to trial on the 10th of July. If both of the accused plead guilty of murder, the case will be considered as detention during His Majesty’s Pleasure, which holds a minimum sentence of 12 years for legal minors. Ultimately the question will be whether or not the court determines the case to be a hate crime.