Drummond Street & Queerspace Cut Ties With The Equality Project Over Anti-Trans Podcast Views
Image: Image: Karen Field / All Out (Matt Beard)
Victorian based support services, Drummond Street Services and Queerspace have withdrawn their support for The Equality Project.
The public distancing from the organisation comes amid the publication of what has widely been perceived as anti-trans content on a recent podcast.
Following the comments Drummond Street Services have publicly called on the organisation to remove the content and engage in restorative processes with the trans community.
Drummond Street calls for removal of “deeply flawed” podcast
Victorian based support services, Drummond Street Services and their organisation Queerspace have long been supporters of The Equality Project.
Taking to social media Karen Field, CEO of Drummond Street Services and Queerspace advised the public that they would no longer be attending or supporting the upcoming Better Together conference held by The Equality Project.
The decision was made over the publication of the latest podcast by the organisation she stated.
“The podcast included views about the trans community that are harmful and ideologically driven, alongside a belief that this warranted a “brave conversation” as part of the current LGBTIQA+ movements or campaigns.”
“The conversation was not based on clinical evidence or the lived experience of our trans community from across the world, including Australia. These views lean on cherry-picked, problematic research and government-funded consultation reports that do not include the voices of those being spoken about in relation to a range of issues.”
Launched in 2017 The Equality Project was founded to “bring together queer advocates and advocacy groups that are often disparate in the struggle towards LGBTI equality.”
Since then the organisation has worked on advocacy and education in the community, including their annual Better Together conference, due to be held in Adelaide next week.
The have also hosted a recent podcast series featuring a range of guests including Ro Allen, Janet Rice and Benjamin Law as they discuss a range of topics with the host Jason Tuazon-McCheyne.
However it was episode four that features Matt Beard, Executive Director of All Out and their discussion about the trans community that has been perceived as problematic.
The episode is titled “What hills are worth dying on in the fight for LGBTIQ+ rights?” and is described as a discussion where they “talk about the increasing alienation between queer organisations and the people they’re designed to serve, how we navigate the global backlash against human rights, and the rights of LGBTIQA+ people, and choosing the right hills to die on.”
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However the discussion did not come off favourably for the trans community.
“We got feedback directly to us from trans folk who asked us how we could be supporting this organisation following the publication of this podcast” Karen Field, CEO of Drummond Street Services and Queerspace told The Star Observer.
“It’s highly problematic” she said of the discussion about the trans community, “neither one of those people are trans.”
“Parts of it were about misinformation and relying on the Cass review in the UK, which was highly problematic in the way in which that review was conducted.”
“The podcast relied on that and misinformation” she stated.
“It was essentially two cis men talking about trans people and clinical issues and conversations about ‘female born women spaces’ and simple statements about trans women in sport, which is certainly more nuanced than this simple conversation.”
“A lot of the conversation was framed around LGBTQIA+ history, which has not always been inclusive of our trans community and was not helpful as part of that conversation and for these two people to attempt to speak on behalf of our community like that was deeply flawed” she continued.
“This was supposedly a ‘brave’ conversation to have on behalf of LGBTQIA+ movements and present with a more palatable view of the trans community” she said of the conversation.
But it wasn’t just Karen who felt the sting of the conversation “this came down to trans people and how they experienced the podcast” she said of the comments made to her by people who had heard the discussion.
Karen took her complaints to the organisation asking them to take the podcast down, explaining her reasoning.
“We spoke to The Equality Project about how the views were counter to the health and well being of the trans community.”
“The response was not good” she said.
“It seemed to be based around some idea of free speech and them being “brave” in raising these issues to help queers to pass better as part of the broader community.”
“It’s not helpful, it seemed more political and was not helpful for the trans community.”
In her statement online Karen made it clear they could no longer support the organisation and their conference.
“Following the discussions between Drummond Street Services/Queerspace and Better Together, we have observed a clear difference in our values. As an evidence-based health organisation deeply committed to wellbeing and access to healthcare for trans people, we will not be attending or supporting future Better Together conferences.”
“This position will not change until The Equality Project remove the podcast and enter a restorative, accountable and educative process with the trans community.”
It was not a decision taken lightly, with Karen expressing her wish that things can be rectified.
“It will be very sad for this conference and project to be jeopardised like this. However they need to engage in a restorative justice process with the trans community to help fix this moving forward and I certainly encourage them to do that.”
“People go to Better Together because they felt safe and THAT conversation was very unsafe.”
Karen advised that some of her trans and gender diverse staff have also pulled out of the upcoming conference.
Statement was sought from Transgender Victoria for this article but had not been received at the time of publication.
See the full statement from Drummond Street Services below.
The Star Observer was also contacted by a community member who was due to present at the upcoming conference next week, however they have also made the decision to withdraw from participating.
“Last night I was made aware of a podcast episode from the Equality Project which featured harmful views about trans and gender diverse communities, particularly trans women and trans youth. My understanding is that the interviewee is also set to speak at the conference” they said.
“Increasingly, trans and gender diverse rights are under attack. We’re seeing this play out in a global context, and here in so-called Australia – most recently in decisions made on health care for trans youth in Queensland. Trans lives are at stake and rhetoric which legitimises a “multiple views” approach perpetuates violence against us.”
“As a trans person, how can I be safe in a space that platforms these views? How can I contribute to a space that frames harmful ideas about us as having brave conversations?”
“Trans rights are not negotiable and our lives are not a debate. As a result of this, I have made the decision to withdraw my session from the program.”
“I keep returning to the word ‘disappointed’ but even that doesn’t capture how I’m feeling. There’s a particular sting when these views are perpetuated within LGBTQIA+ communities, especially in a time when we need allies to take action. I’m grateful to Drummond Street Services for bringing this to our attention and I am in solidarity with everyone at the conference challenging these views to create a better, safer world for trans communities. I hope that the organisers take the time to listen to trans communities and the harm that this causes.”
The Better Together conference is scheduled to take place from October 31 – Nov 1 in Adelaide.
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