SCOLAG LEGAL JOURNAL SCOLAG 396, October 2010, Extract EXTRACT PAGES Issue: 396 PUBLISHED: October 2010 PAGES: 208 - 212 TITLE: Trans People's Experience of Domestic Abuse AUTHOR: Brian Dempsey CITE AS: 2010 SCOLAG 208-212 SCOLAG is a Scottish charity dedicated to working for equal access to justice by explaining and improving the law and legal services. Please ensure any use of this extract material credits the authors and SCOLAG Legal Journal. Your support is needed - advertise with us or subscribe and donate online www.scolag.org www.scolag.org Scottish Legal Action Group (SCOLAG) is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered office: 52 Crossgate, Cupar, Fife KY15 5JX. Company No: 203019. Registered with the Inland Revenue in Scotland as a charity. Registration No: SC030329. Online at www.scolag.org
Access to Justice Domestic Abuse Trans People's Experience of Domestic Abuse Brian Dempsey* considers recent ground-breaking research The publication of Out of Sight, Out of mind? Transgender people's experiences of domestic abuse1 is a most welcome addition to the very limited body of knowledge we have on trans2 people's lives in Scotland and on trans people's experiences of domestic abuse anywhere in the world.3 This article seeks to emphasise the importance of the report by placing the research in context and presenting in brief its major findings; it is not intended to be a substitute for reading the report itself.4 The research presented in Out of Sight, Out of Mind? should play an important part in challenging the failure of public sector and voluntary sector organisations to make themselves relevant and accessible to trans people: formally gender-neutral laws are all well and good but are rendered irrelevant if people cannot find ways to safely access legal services. The report should also play a part in supporting the Scottish Government's moves to recognise and support all victims of domestic abuse and so challenge the marginalisation of trans people and many others experienc- ing domestic abuse.5 The context of the research Legislation designed to protect people experiencing do- mestic abuse6 is gender- and sexual-orientation neutral and therefore should be accessible to trans people, though in practice there may be many barriers to accessing these pro- tections.7 To address these possible barriers, efforts have been made to try to ensure that solicitors and advocates,8 the police,9 prosecutors10 and the judiciary11 in Scotland meet their legal and ethical duties towards all service users, including trans people. people in general is also under-developed in Scotland.16 This may reflect prejudice on the part of academics and politi- cians or fear that attention to such issues might harm their careers given other people's perceived prejudice. Another barrier to research is the view that the lives of LGBT people are especially "sensitive" and that trans and LGBT people are "difficult to reach".17 The long-standing LGBT rights organisation Outright Scotland was the driving force behind early demands for recognition of LGBT people's experiences domestic abuse.18 Outright's petition to the Parliament in 2003 called for rec- ognition of all those experiencing domestic abuse.19 This led