Vic Tanner Davy, equality campaigner: 5 things I would change about Jersey....

Friday 30 December 2016

Vic Tanner Davy is the treasurer of Liberate - an equality campaign group established in the Island in August 2014.

The group's aim is "to educate and inform on a wide range of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning) issues and to support those who identify as LGBTQ, their families and friends. And to campaign to reform policies and laws to ensure that LGBTQ people can enjoy the same freedoms as everyone else across the Channel Islands".

The group is already changing things in Jersey.

In June 2014, it held a rally to press the States for equal marriage. Nearly 1,000 islanders took to the streets. The resulting march was more akin to Pride than a political rally.

The following year Pride was on the agenda - more than 3,000 people took part. And this year the group staged the first Channel Islands Diversity Awards. The top prize - the Lifetime Achievement Award - going to  Daphne Minihane for her long service to Age Concern Jersey and for her work with the Jersey Aids Relief Group in the late 1980s.

Liberate has also been key in prompting the States to introduce sex discrimination laws. 

But, Vic says, there's still much to change in the Island. These are some of his wishes...

1 The number of cars on our roads

In the 1970s and 1980s when I was growing up in Jersey, the island’s population grew by about 20,000 people every summer as seasonal workers and tourists swelled our numbers and we used to moan about the traffic being terrible then. We are now at that population level every day of the year and our road network is beginning to creak.

2 The gender recognition process

It is a nonsense that the island’s transgender population have to apply to a gender recognition panel in the UK to get a gender recognition certificate to change their gender legally. We should be able to self-declare our gender identity in the Royal Court and have that ratified in the same way that one does with a deed poll for a change of name.

3 The waiting times for young people who need access to mental health services

The waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (“CAMHS”) are too long and are causing parents and youngsters distress as they wait for appointments. This is a problem in the UK too as more and more young people require treatment from a stretched service. We need to put resources into training staff to recognise the early signs of poor mental health so that youngsters are supported sooner before their condition worsens and they need to be referred into CAMHS.

4 The amount of beef (and other meat) imported into the Island

The biggest contributor to global warming is the farming of cattle through the methane they produce. The amount of grassland required by beef production is high compared with any other meat source and even higher when compared with crop production. This results in deforestation and loss of habitats for other species. We need to eat more locally produced vegetables and support our farmers.

5 The lack of a national gallery

We have some excellent little galleries in Jersey and some inspiring temporary exhibitions but we don’t have the scale of gallery that you get in London or other UK cities. I love visiting the free, huge, national art collections in London when I am over in the UK. I miss that imaginative and cultural “fix”. My favourite is the National Portrait Gallery (“NPG”) in Trafalgar Square. If I could, I would pick up the NPG and drop it on the Waterfront!