Local Campaigning Network: Local Campaigning

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Introduction | Health Services | Politicians | Local Authorities and Employers | The Police and Probation Services | Employment | Support and Education

Introduction

The Local Network is intended to complement the work of the national Key Activists by tackling issues within a particular town, city or area, focusing on local people, local media and local institutions within the context of the national campaign.

We want to involve as many people as we can in local campaigning, and it seems from correspondance that a number of people have done everything in their Campaign Packs and are very keen to do more.

There is a great deal of work to be done at a local level, and different people will prefer to take different approaches and to tackle different areas of the campaign. Please get involved at the level you feel comfortable and take on as much or as little as you wish. The strength of PFC is in its diversity and flexibility, and a large number of supporters each doing a little has already added up to a lot! Some ideas are given here, including some initiatives which we are co-ordinating at a national level. But local volunteers will have their own ideas. Please use them, and if you think of something other people ought to know, tell us.

Media network

This was the original purpose for which we wanted to set up the local network.

If you are willing to take part in the Media Network you should fill in your details on the Media Network Register.

Volunteers are asked to contact local press, radio and TV and to build up relationships with staff, in order to obtain coverage for issues relating to civil rights for transgendered people. This will be both general ongoing educational coverage and coverage in connection with particular events.

Media watch

A simple but potentially powerful idea is that volunteers should check the papers they normally read, and the radio or TV channels they normally watch, for coverage of transsexualism or related topics. You are asked to keep cuttings (and tapes?) if possible and to make a brief record of the details.

You would then respond to the item on behalf of PFC.

See Media Network and Media Watch Briefing Sheet for more details.

Local campaigning & awareness raising

There is also a need for a great deal of lobbying, educating and informing work to be done with a wide range of locally based agencies. For example: Health Services, the Police and Probation Services, Politicians, Local Authorities, local employers, local "helping agencies" (CABs, Samaritans, Social Services), local "information providing" agencies (libraries, CVO’s, colleges)

The Health Services

Area Health Authorities

All Area Health Authorities will have received a copy of the PFC booklet "Transsexualism, the current medical viewpoint". Volunteers are asked to target Purchasing Departments and put the case for continuing to fund gender reassignment treatment including surgery. Ask for a copy of their Purchasing Plan for 1997 and check that. Note that any authority having a blanket policy on not funding is acting illegally.

Community Health Council

You may find your local Community Health Council is supportive and will assist you in mounting a challenge if necessary. It is worth letting them know of our existence.

Family Practitioner Committees and General Practitioners

It could also be useful to write to local Family Practitioner Committees and to local General Practitioners, whether fundholding or not. They should be provided with some information (e.g. the briefing sheets on gender dysphoria from the Campaign Pack, the list of the main self-help networks, a PFC leaflet) and asked to ensure any transsexual patients are made aware of these resources. This could be a very large task as there are a lot of GPs - maybe the Family Practitioner Committee could assist.

NOTE:

The PFC standard advice on "Why Health Authorities should fund gender reassignment" (included in this pack) may be of help when you compose your letters.

Politicians

MPs and parliamentary candidates

Ensure that you and as many friends, colleagues and supporters as possible have visited your local MP and made him or her well aware of the issues and the level of public concern about transgendered people’s civil rights.

Don’t leave it at one visit - keep pestering. Ask the MP to sign the Early Day Motion no. 302 and to write on your behalf to the appropriate ministers. Labour MPs should be writing to their own party’s shadow ministers as well as to those currently in government and seeking a clarification of what Labour’s policy would be in office.

If your MP is standing down, contact the local party office and question them about their new candidate.

If the seat is likely to change hands, especially if it is marginal, target each potential winning candidate and ensure they realise that the vote of the transgendered lobby is important. (In reality it is, unlike the gay vote, likely to be far too small to make a difference even in a very marginal seat, but don’t tell the candidates!)

In general, it’s still better at the moment to write in the conventional way, rather than by email. However, if you want to find out who is the MP for a particular constituency, or to see if the MP is on-line, take a look at the House of Commons own list of Members of Parliament.  If you want to know who is the MP for a particular constituency, what responsibilities they hold, or anything else about MPs, this is the first place to look. It also includes regularly update lists of MPs’ responsibilities, lists of government ministers etc, arranged in several different ways.

PARTY CONFERENCES

Besides the national party conferences, each of the main parties runs a series of local conferences through the year. Some PFC volunteers have run stalls at these, and found it a useful point of contact with local politicians. Details of these events should be available from local party offices. (See Diary of a Conference Campaigner too).

MEPs

Little lobbying has yet been carried out on Members of the European Parliament. They are difficult to visit, but a letter with some information would be a start. Ask whether they are aware of the 1989 European Community Standpoints on transgendered civil rights and what is being done to further these. Ask them, if supportive, to get in touch with Mel Read MEP, who is a patron of PFC.

See Message From Europe Not Recieved and the online list of MEP’s Contituency Addresses. The House of Parliament web site will also help you to find who your MP is.

Councillors

See below

Local Authorities

COUNCILLORS

Write to or visit the local councillors for your own ward and provide them with PFC information. Each political party (e.g. Labour Group etc) should be lobbied about civil rights in general and asked to raise the issues at a higher level within their party.

Employment

Find out who is responsible for employment and equal opportunities within the council. Ensure they are aware of their new obligations following P v  S and Cornwall County Council. Ask them specifically to include "gender identity" in their equal opportunities policies.

See the PFC document "Notes on Employment Rights".

The Police & Probation Services

Local Police Authority

Write asking them for a copy of their guidelines for dealing with transgendered people who are the victims or the perpetrators of crime. (It is very possible they don’t have any, but if they do please copy them to PFC headquarters!) If they have a Lesbian and Gay outreach department or similar this may be your best first contact.

If their guidelines are non-existent or seem unsatisfactory ask them to adopt the guidelines recently drawn up by the London Metropolitan Police Authority with regard to dealing with transsexual and transvestite citizens. Ask them to ensure officers are aware of PFC and that we can provide legal advice to individual transgendered people if necessary.

Local Probation Service

NAPO (National Association of Probation Officers) is affiliated to PFC nationally and so are several local branches. We also have a national link with NACRO.

Local offices and staff based at the Courts should be made aware of PFC and that we can provide or recommend specialist legal advice to individual transgendered people if necessary. They should also be provided with the list of national self-help networks. A disproportionate number of transgendered people come in contact with the Criminal Justice System, and they need all the support they can get.

Any branches of NAPO who have not yet affiliated should be asked to do so.

Employment

Local employers

These range from the big statutory agencies including the local authority and health authority to local businesses and the voluntary sector. The largest businesses and agencies could be contacted direct, but small businesses usually have some kind of local umbrella such as a Chamber of Commerce through which you can reach them, and voluntary sector agencies often have a CVO or resource centre.

Employers should be made aware of their new obligations following P v S and Cornwall County Council. (We suspect that despite national media coverage at the time of the judgement many will never have heard of it.) Ask them specifically to include "gender identity" in their equal opportunities policies.

Support & Education

Local “Helping” Agencies

Approach local agencies who may come into contact with transgendered people as clients. Provide them with written information about transsexualism, about PFC and other self-help agencies and if possible, offer to go along and give a talk to staff and volunteers. You are not expected to be an authority on legal issues or the national campaign; the best approach is to speak from personal experience and to ensure people are aware of the resources available from PFC and other agencies which could help them in their work with transgendered clients.

Ask voluntary sector agencies to consider affiliating to PFC.

Citizens Advice Bureaux

PFC has just recently had contact with CAB nationally, who are sympathetic and surprisingly well informed. A personal contact with each CAB would be valuable.

Samaritans

We have had links with the Samaritans for some time and a number of groups have already had talks. Obviously an important agency to target and again a personal contact with each branch would be useful.

Professionals

Counsellors, solicitors and social workers are just some of the professional groups who might be worth contacting. Don’t assume people will have any knowledge of transsexualism or of civil rights issues - a few do, but many are completely uninformed. If sympathetic make sure their details are passed to PFC headquarters so we can put them in touch with others working nationally.

Lesbian and Gay People

If you are happy to talk to lesbian and gay people, it is well worth asking to attend meetings of any local groups as a speaker. Many such groups are very supportive and will sign the petition, make donations, and offer valuable information about local campaigning from their own experience. There may even be local groups of transgendered people, either cells of national agencies or small independent groups - obviously worth going to speak to them.

Local churches and religious groups

Some work has been done nationally, especially with the Church of England, which carries considerable political clout through the Bishops in the House of Lords. We are also in contact with a small number of local ministers who are sympathetic. The attitude of the dioceses within the C of E is very variable, some being wonderfuly supportive and others outright hostile. Unfortunately it is impossible to judge the attitude of a particular minister or congregation without a personal contact.

In our experience so far the Roman Catholic Church is supportive, as are the Methodist Church (Rev. Dr. Leslie Griffiths is a patron) and the Society of Friends (Quakers). It appears from anecdotal evidence that followers of Islam can be accepting of transgendered members, but I imagine some groups could be hostile - we don’t yet have enough information to know. Similarly Reformed Judaism seems to be accepting (Rabbi Julia Neuberger is a patron), but we have no information about more Orthodox groups. We also have it on hearsay that some of the more evangelical Christian churches are very condemnatory of transsexualism, but this may not be universal.

If you are already a member of a religious group, it may be well worth talking to your minister or religious leader and ensuring s/he is properly informed about the civil rights issues. Potentially local churches or religious groups could be incredibly useful to a local campaign. Congregations include people from all walks of life who can carry the campaign to their place of work. They may also be willing to host a fundraising event and can offer access to study groups, mothers’ unions etc who might welcome a speaker.

Ministers should be made aware of their power (in many churches, including the C of E and the Roman Catholic Church) to conduct a blessing ceremony for couples who wish to marry but cannot because one of them is transsexual. They should also be educated about how best to help any individuals who come to them for support or advice.

Local information

It would be good to have PFC information and contact details listed in any local directories (e.g. those published by CVOs, or by local authorities for their staff and/or the public).

A poster or leaflet in local libraries might be possible.

Stalls at local events can be excellent for contacting ordinary members of the public. The petition is a great ice-breaker. People can also be asked to make a donation (if within the guidelines of the event).