The Scottish Transgender Alliance Forum Objectives are:
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To increase networking and knowledge sharing between individuals and organisations from across Scotland who are interested in transgender equality and human rights;
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To increase consultation of a diverse range of transgender people from across Scotland about their priorities and viewpoints in regard to transgender equality, rights and inclusion;
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To increase the active involvement of a diverse range of transgender people in steering the development of, and volunteering within, the work of the Scottish Transgender Alliance.
The STA Forums currently planned for 2011-2012 are as follows:
STA Forum on 22nd October 2011 in Dundee with information and discussions about: the NHS Gender Reassignment Protocol, Marriage Equality for Trans People, Gender Identity Monitoring Questions and Transgender Day of Remembrance Events.
Online STA Forum on 17th January 2012 to discuss: how the STA website, facebook page and twitter feed should be expanded and improved, and also how online networking can be used to better include trans people outwith the central belt in the work of the STA. To suggest additional topics to discuss at this Online STA Forum, please Contact Us as soon as possible.
STA Forum in March 2012 (location still to be decided) with a discussion in partnership with the National LGBT Forum about transgender inclusion in sports. Contact Us to let us know what else we should include on the agenda.
PREVIOUS STA FORUMS HELD:
The Scottish Transgender Alliance was funded by the Scottish Government Equality Unit to run the following STA Forums in Financial Year 2008-2009:
1. STA Forum on 4 October 2008 in Glasgow on the topic of health.
There were 16 participants plus 3 facilitators. The discussion notes from this STA forum, together with the findings of additional health issue consultations carried out by the STA, have formed the basis of the STA work on transgender health issues.
2. STA Forum on 21 March 2009 in Edinburgh on topics of gender recognition, education, and cultural inclusion.
There were 26 participants plus 7 facilitators. The gender recognition discussion which took place was part of a Economic Social Research Council funded study by Dr Sally Hines and Dr Zowie Davy of the University of Leeds on the effects of the Gender Recognition Act 2004. The education and cultural inclusion discussions which took place have informed the development of the STA workplan and GoMA Gender Diversity Art Outreach Workshops for 2009-2010.
The Scottish Transgender Alliance was funded by the Scottish Government Equality Unit to run the following STA Forums in Financial Year 2009-2010:
3. STA Forum on 1st September 2009 in Glasgow on the topic of enforcement of goods, faciliities and services legal protections.
The room size and roundtable meeting style meant that the numbers of participants was restricted to a maximum of 12 places for transgender participants and each of the transgender community peer support groups were therefore invited to send a representative. The STA Forum ended up having 10 transgender participants plus the Scottish Transgender Alliance Project Coordinator and 3 Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Scotland representatives. It was run as a roundtable discussion to enable the transgender representatives to directly discuss with the EHRC Scotland representatives transgender experiences of discrimination in Scotland on grounds of gender reassignment and their views about key priority areas where they would like to see enforcement of the current gender reassignment legal rights to service provision equality.
4. STA Forum on 27th February 2010 in Edinburgh on the topics of European networking for trans rights work and on using art to promote trans rights.
There were 16 participants together with 4 facilitators, 4 performance artists and a representative from the Scottish Government Equality Unit. The forum discussed and reflected upon recent attempts to promote national transgender rights via art and also via networking and learning exchanges between European transgender community groups.
5. STA Forum on 20th March 2010 in Glasgow on the topic of hate crime.
This STA Forum was held jointly with the National LGBT Forum in Glasgow. There were 12 transgender STA Forum members plus 19 non-transgender National LGBT Forum members and 4 facilitators/presenters. The forum discussed the implementation of the new sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability hate crime legislation and how the police and crown office are developing their operational policies and practice to improve hate crime reporting and prosecution effectiveness.
The Scottish Transgender Alliance was funded by the Scottish Government Equality Unit to run the following STA Forums in Financial Year 2010-2011:
6. STA Forum on 15th December 2010 in Edinburgh
7. STA Forum on 8th January 2011 in Perth
8. STA Forum on 19th February 2011 in Inverness
9. STA Forum (Youth) on 20th February 2011 in Montrose
These four STA Forums all discussed the same topic - what transgender equality outcomes and work outputs should the STA prioritise for 2011-2012? A total of 46 people participated in these STA Forums (22 MTF transsexual women, 9 FTM transsexual men, 12 people with other types of transgender identities, and 3 trans allies). The priorities expressed by all participants were all recorded using the methodology of Ketso http://www.ketso.com/ and the 2011-2012 STA funding application submitted to the Scottish Government Equality Unit at the end of February 2011 was developed from the participants' views on outcome and output priorities.