Emmanuel College's LGBT+ Officer, and Labour member, Louis Dexter, writes on why we cannot forget about our marginalised communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Perhaps the most surreal image to ever come out of the coronavirus crisis was Madonna sitting in a bathtub of milk talking about how the pandemic was a great ‘social equaliser’. As we know, this simply isn’t the case. The UK has suffered greatly compared to the rest of Europe at the hands of an incompetent government which in the early phases of the virus tried to prioritise its economy over the health of its population. Areas such as migrant camps have faced cramped living conditions and a lack of PPE which has allowed the virus to spread in unknown numbers. And approximately 1/3 of intensive care coronavirus patients in the UK are BAME, reflecting widespread socioeconomic inequalities between different racial groups in the UK.

​Another important aspect to consider, however, is how an LGBT+ icon like Madonna fails to recognise the ways in which queer communities will be disproportionately affected in a variety of ways by the coronavirus pandemic and its social, economic and medical implications.
 
The crisis in mental health among both LGBT+ youth and adults is also something which will be exacerbated by the stresses of a global pandemic. One review of studies into LGBT+ mental health found that queer people are 1.5 times more likely to experience anxiety and depression, and are more at risk of suicidal behaviour, with gay and bisexual men four times more likely to attempt suicide in their lifetime than the rest of the population. Conditions such as anxiety and depression will be made so much worse when such groups face isolation, leaving them separated from many of their support networks and coping mechanisms. Those who are lucky enough to have a home to stay in may be forced to live in lockdown with unsupportive families, losing a vital sense of community and freedom to express their identities in a healthy way. They may become victims of domestic violence or emotional abuse, which could have untold impacts on the mental health of LGBT+ youth.
 
Aside from the obvious emotional issues the queer community faces in a society which does not properly make space for us, there are many serious material, financial and medical concerns many of us face, all of which are exacerbated by the failings of the current Tory government. A first is their failure to tackle the homelessness crisis faced by the UK - LGBT+ young people comprise up to 24% of the homeless youth population, and as emergency night shelters become overwhelmed they face fears of virus outbreaks. At a time when jobs are impossible to find, homeless or impoverished LGBT+ youth will no doubt be disproportionately impacted by the economic tolls to come.
 
Apart from the emotional and financial concerns facing queer people at this difficult time, there are numerous concerns to be had about the medical implications of a pandemic for our community. Studies have consistently shown that LGBT+ people are more likely to have chronic health conditions, which has been linked by many to the minority stress that these groups face. Furthermore, gay and bisexual men, and in particular queer people of colour, are more likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS, with all of these issues putting many members of the LGBT+ community at a far higher medical risk if infected with COVID-19, especially when our public healthcare has been chronically underfunded for the past 10 years of Conservative rule.
 
The strain on the NHS might not just place more LGBT+ people at risk of dying of COVID-19, but may also mean that they face delayed access to vital treatments. With the NHS being overwhelmed by the current crisis, gender reassignment surgeries and many hormone-replacement surgeries have been stopped, which may have a dangerous impact on transgender communities at this difficult time.
 
All these concerns for the physical and mental safety of our community comes at a time when the government is doing so little to mitigate the concerns of the most vulnerable in society. An initial tactic of herd immunity by the cabinet suggested a willingness to allow terrifying numbers of the aged population, BAME, working class and LGBT+ people to suffer and die for the good of the national economy. And now the government continues to blunder as a result of its delayed response, failing to secure PPE for the already failing NHS.  
 
As if it wasn’t already clear enough that the government doesn’t care about marginalised communities, you only have to look at the ‘Minister for Women and Equalities’ Liz Truss’s recent comments calling for a ‘protection of women’s only spaces’ and further limitations on treatment for transgender youth to see the thinly veiled transphobia which the party helps sustain.
 
So its more important now, more than ever, to keep in mind that the queer community has to share the battle with BAME and working class communities to fight against a government which sees our lives, and our wellbeing, as expendable. This is not a great social equaliser, as some might want us to think, and the battle against social injustice has to continue, with solidarity across marginalised communities. 

CULC Campaigns Officer Stephen Hughes gives his insight into the political ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, and why he thinks Labour should already be focused on a post-corona world.


It's all a bit crazy really isn't it? I'm old enough to remember a time when moving the House of Lords to York was the story in British politics. To say things have changed in the intervening period would be an under-statement. Seven billion people's health linked together like never before, fiscal rulebooks ripped up and the ever chameleon like Piers Morgan coming out to bat for the NHS. After five weeks in lockdown, we can only hope that we are through the worst of COVID with regards to loss of life. The mantra in those weeks, particularly amongst students and those of us on the left, has been that things can't go back to being business as usual after this crisis. Yet, where it gets even crazier is that things may well not change at all, in fact they may get worse.

Despite the unrelenting cruelty of coronavirus, many of us will have seen firsthand some of the positives to have emerged from lockdown. Cycling is booming, the supposed snowflake generation are volunteering in huge numbers, spending in some local businesses is up, and best of all, Michael Gove is defending experts. Evidently, amidst the profound socioeconomic harm of lockdown, there is also for the first time in living memory a real opportunity for a genuine and wholesale reset. Those who have argued for a Green New Deal, or for a lasting solution to the social care crisis for example, may finally be seeing the Overton Window shift onto favourable ground. Having flattened the curve, the challenge now is to get ahead of it.

This really matters because failure really isn't an option. On a day to day basis, fail to implement bold and innovative solutions on active travel (you've probably guessed I'm a cycling enthusiast) and we risk seeing even more congestion and poor air quality in towns and cities as workers look to avoid crowded public transport. On the battle of ideas, failure to make the case for public investment and progressive taxation will laden already cash strapped local authorities with another round of austerity and accelerate the marketisation of our universities. On an even grander scale, fail to win the argument on international cooperation and solidarity between rich and poor nations, and the Trump-esque slide into populism will only hasten. With COVID only being the curtain raiser for what will be a decade of profound social, economic and environmental shocks around the world, a  retreat into national silos now would be the ultimate white flag for any efforts to halt climate change.
 
 So yes, COVID could change our national conversation and priorities for good. But such a change is far from inevitable and given the extent to which social and economic power is entrenched in Britain, there is every chance that the status quo survives unhinged. To succeed then, every sinew of the Labour movement will need to be pulling in the same direction. Coronavirus has the potential to be a blank canvas for the whole world, so too it should be for Labour after years of division and self indulgence. There really is an argument to be won right now as we speak, and it is upon all of us to pull together in order to have the best chance of winning it. The road ahead may be steep, but as Lisa Nandy has said herself, it need not be long.

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