Over 100 Organisations Sign a Statement in Support of Trans Equality

This month, the UK has a historic opportunity to improve trans rights. The Government is currently consulting the public on whether it should make it easier for trans people to have their gender legally recognised through the Gender Recognition Act.

Join VICE and Stonewall in calling on the Government to make vital changes to the GRA and submit your response to the consultation. Follow all of our Recognise Me coverage here.

On Wednesday, more than 100 organisations added their names to a full page advertisement in the free newspaper Metro in order to voice their support for trans quality.

Hoping to counter a transphobic ad published in the same paper last week, businesses like ASOS, Tesco, eBay and Lloyds Bank, media companies such as VICE, Dazed, Channel 4 and ITV, and a huge number of charities – ranging from Mermaids to St. Mungo's – have pledged full support to their "trans family, colleagues, customers, and friends" in a full page spread.

The statement accompanying the ad states, "We are proud to stand alongside you in the fight for trans equality. We support your right to be yourself and you deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in all parts of daily life." It forms a necessary opposition to the dangerous anti-trans rhetoric that's tended to dominate the media conversation on these matters, derailing the discussion on trans people's rights to one implying that cis women's rights will be inherently compromised by reforming the current Gender Recognition Act of 2004.

If you'd like to show material support for trans rights at this crucial time, you can spend ten minutes filling in the government's public consultation on the Gender Recognition Act – positive changes to which will vastly improve the lives of trans people – here. The consultation closes this Friday, the 19th of October, at 11PM.

Follow all of our 'Recognise Me' coverage here.