CHRISTINE BURNS DELVES INTO THE DIVA ARCHIVE AND FINDS TRANS INCLUSION IS NOT JUST A CURRENT TREND

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH BY EMILY EATON

The question of whether lesbians support or despise trans people has become a hot issue of late. It’s a topic that was forced to the front of the LGBTQI news agenda in July 2018, when a group of women famously laid down in front of the Pride In London parade claiming that they wanted to “Get the ‘L’ out” (of LGBTQI). In the weeks that followed, Pride marches,

LGBTQI publications and organisations around the country countered that message with impassioned support for trans people and a volley of alternative slogans. My local Pride was led by women holding a large banner proclaiming “Manchester Lesbians Stand By Your Trans”.

The “Get the L out” persuasion seemed to be heavily outnumbered – even accounting for the number of famous straight people boosting their messages – but the thing that makes this question complicated is that there is certainly no lack of history in terms of hostile views from some quarters, just as straight feminists had once been very antagonistic towards lesbians. Equally, looking back on accounts from the 1970s and early 80s, there have also been examples of genuine support and community too.

Personally, I’ve concluded over the last 30 to 40 years that it’s a lottery. Lesbian women are as varied in their feelings about trans people as anyone else. Judge people by their behaviours, not by their label. So, when DIVA invited me to write about their coverage of trans issues for the magazine’s 25th anniversary, I gladly accepted the commission but had no preconceptions of what I might find.