Friday, 19th February 2016
So today is a World Day of Social Justice. It is time to think how to advance peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations and remove the barriers that people face on many unjustifiable grounds .This year the focus is on a new vision of the economy in forever changing conditions. Desired goal here is real, sustainable human wellbeing, not merely growth and material consumption…May we present you with this powerful LGB&T interpretation of the meaning of social justice written by our blogger.
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I have a privilege. When I first was told that, I felt initially quite angry. "I can't have privilege, that's for middle class cis straight men". As a trans man in a relationship with a man (and a decade of identifying as a lesbian before I transitioned) I couldn't really get more queer, heck I am all the colours of LGB&T and then some…
And, I countered, desperately trying to hold onto some of the "but I have it so hard" I live with a long term illness, how can I have privilege when I can't even get out the damned house some days?! But even with all my queerness and disability, I have privilege. In fact, when you look closely at it, I have a bucket load of privilege. I have white privilege, perceived as male privilege, middle class privilege, living in a western country privilege... The list goes on.
Privilege is basically saying you have it easier than someone else and that's hard to swallow. If you say something hurts, it's unhelpful to have it pointed out that someone, somewhere has it worse. It seems to belittle the pain, that you shouldn't feel it at all. That's how I felt when I first heard about my privilege. I live with the ignorance of other people all the time (especially, as a trans person, when it comes to people asking about the contents of my pants). But then it was pointed out that it, as a white trans man living with a disability, I have it easier than a trans man living with a disability who is a person of colour. This isn't about one minority being more persecuted than being another minority; it's saying that certain attributes have privilege over other attributes. It is easier in Britain today to be white than to be a person of colour, to have English as your first language and to be straight and cisgender. In a more global setting it's easier to be living in a western country than a developing country or a country ravaged by war.
Checking your privilege is hard, but it gives you the power to change things. It has helped me to understand when it's for me to stand up and get my voice heard, and when I need to pipe down and let someone else have the power. As LGBT people, it is up to us to be heard on LGBT issues, for us to shape the narrative on who we are and what it means to be LGBT. By checking their straight privilege it's up to our allies to support us in that and let us be heard. It's up to them to challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, but not to shape what it means to be LGBT. In that same way, I will not tolerate racism or xenophobia, but as a white British born person, it is not up to me to say what it is like to be a person of colour or someone who has moved to Britain from another country.
This weekend is World Day of Social Justice and it's pretty clear that we are nowhere close to social justice yet. This is where privilege comes in. If social justice was truly reached there would be no privilege. It would be as easy to be LGBT as it is straight. Nobody would persecute you, or try to kill you for being yourself. In Britain we're getting closer to social justice on some areas and the rights of LGBT people have come on leaps and bounds in my lifetime alone. But we're not there yet. With true social justice there would be no gay jokes, racist jokes or derogatory comments using race or gender as a put down. With true social justice where you were born (a council estate, another country, a lords manor) wouldn't matter, you'd have the same chances in life. We really aren't close to that yet and with the gaps feeling like their getting bigger now is a good time to check your privilege and speak up when other people start throwing theirs around.
Jack Davis
