The UN is wrong about Britain’s treatment of trans people

Is Britain a hostile environment for trans people? The United Nations’ independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity has delivered his verdict – and it isn’t good. Victor Madrigal-Borloz, a lawyer from Costa Rica, said following a ten-day visit to the country: ‘I am deeply concerned about increased bias-motivated incidents of harassment, threats, and violence against LGBT people, including a rampant surge in hate crimes in the UK.’

But his statement was stronger on rhetoric than evidence. An unnamed ‘elected officer’ in Belfast told him that ‘I have never seen so much unadulterated hatred as currently directed toward the trans community’. He also claimed in his report, which is to be presented to the government, that an anonymous MP remarked that ‘there is more fear in the streets than there used to be’.

And if those encounters weren’t sufficient to drive home his case, he cited a ‘Welsh civil society representative’ who bemoaned the ‘frequent posting of messages on Twitter by a prominent politician that appeared to be opposed to LGBT persons’ equal enjoyment of human rights’.