ALT ATTENTION: The University of Leeds is changing their Trans Equality Policy at the detriment of Trans staff and students.

ALT What is the Trans Equality Policy? The Trans Equality Policy (2014-2019) is a University document that outlines how the University aims for inclusion and equality for Trans staff and students. This policy has since been under review - a draft has been made of a new policy which uses much vaguer language than the original, and puts Trans staff and students at risk of harm.

ALT What have they changed? Point 4: removed guidance on examples of transphobic abuse and harassment, making it unclear what they define as 'abusive.' This means that the university has sole discretion in determining whether an incident 'counts' as transphobic abuse, potentially allowing for transphobia to be excused under the basis of 'free speech' or ignorance.

ALT REMOVED: 'instances of such behaviour (transphobic abuse) are serious disciplinary offences and will be dealt with under the University's Dignity and Mutual Respect procedures'. REPLACED: 'examples of the processes available (to deal with transphobic abuse)' - transphobic abuse will no longer be automatically sanctioned under a concrete policy and will instead be up to the university to determine which policy is 'most appropriate', which is potentially tolerant to transphobia. The university is no longer obliged to treat it as a serious disciplinary offence.

ALT REMOVED: 'the university undertakes to remove any inappropriate content whenever it appears on the premises.' Which obscures the university's responsibility to ensure that campus (whether physical or digital) is accessible and safe for trans staff and students. REMOVED: 'The University will respect the confidentiality of all trans staff and students' identities and will not reveal information relating to their trans status without the prior agreement of the individual.' REPLACED WITH: 'The University will not knowingly reveal confidential information which relates to an individual's gender reassignment.' This obscures the university's data protection duties to ensure no accidental or negligent breaches of sensitive data.

ALT REMOVED: 'trans staff... will not be redeployed against their wishes because of their gender identity or gender expression.' Allows the university to discriminate against trans staff by redeploying them to other areas of the university due to their trans status - this is potentially illegal under the 2010 Equality Act. Language which implies the university will take proactive measures to ensure trans equality has been replaced by vague and weak language: how does the university define 'appropriate' action? treated 'fairly'? They speak of 'aiming to' provide safe environments for trans people, but give little guidance in how this will be put into practise.

ALT Who did the university consult? The university originally consulted with trans staff on the proposed changes, and then completely ignored their feedback. The university did not consult with any trans students, claiming they were 'struggling to find trans students to consult', even though we have a prominent student LGBT society with a Trans Welfare Officer on the committee. THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

ALT What can we do? SHARE this post to let the university and the Equality Policy Unit know that they cannot get away with these changes. The university has tried to hide this information from students at every step of the way = an embarassing example of their so-called 'transparency'. SIGN THE PETITION BELOW!