Champo feels more at home in their body now than ever. “In recent years, I have been able to confidently present as queer through my clothes, haircuts, facial hair and overall physicality. This has brought me so much peace. I feel most at home in my body during summer months, when I spend hours on end outdoors living a more active life.”
Ollie feels at home in her body most days. “Wearing more feminine clothes helps me see my body in a new light and feel more comfortable. Feminine clothing has always made me feel at home in my body, for how it can help my more masculine features disappear.”
Merle finds the rise in anti-trans policy “really scary and disappointing. I remember feeling when I was younger like there was progress being made, and there still is, but in today’s political climate I can no longer hold onto the feeling that I have a steady progression towards a brighter future. I think the rise in violence and fear towards queer and trans people, fascism and hatred are growing at the moment, and it means that we need to be brave and support each other.”
For Tove, cutting their hair short helped them feel at home in their body. As well as “wearing a binder and finding clothes that make me feel like me. Being around my friends, and especially my girlfriend, makes me feel very comfortable and safe because they see me as nonbinary.”
Parker feels kind of at home in his body. He says, “I do feel more at home than in the past, and it’s because I have supportive people around me to help me through bad days. I feel most at home in my body when I’m acting on stage or in my room with my partner.”
Hope is beginning to feel at home in their body. “I think I’ve become more comfortable with myself as I’ve grown as a person, and that has helped me become comfortable in my gender.”
For Abi, having legislators pass laws denying trans minors puberty blockers has left them “pretty distraught. Especially when it’s clear they’re using faulty science to support their hateful policies. And I hate to think how [bans on trans-affirming care] could spread to trans adults too. It’s hard to know where to put your hope.”
Nao is working towards feeling at home in their body. “The biggest thing that has helped is accepting and being confident in my gender. Because once I am comfortable with my identity, my physical appearance matters less. It allows me to breathe and realize that my body is me, and regardless of how I look, I know who I am.”
Jamie is beginning to feel at home in their body. “It’s like moving into a new house. I’m still adjusting to the layout, but it’s unmistakably mine. Before top surgery, there had been this barrier between me and the rest of the world for about 6-7 years. Now I have two lines, and I love them.”
Daniil identifies as gender nonconforming and is working on letting go of arbitrary standards set by society. “I used to treat my body like a prison, but now I see it as a reflection of my mental state.” They feel most at home in their body when they “don’t bother defining myself and instead just let my voice fly.”
For Gwen having a girlfriend who is also trans means “communication is just so much easier because we understand not feeling comfortable in our bodies. We are a lot more careful with each other’s bodies, and finding the type and levels of intimacy each of us enjoys is a really lovely experience.”
Ash feels much more at home in their body now than in the past. “Living in a trans and disabled body was something I really struggled with for a long time, but having access to testosterone and top surgery helped me make my body feel more like a home than a prison.
Max has found their own unique aesthetic. “I use my clothes and makeup to express my gender and as an armour to hide behind. It’s taken me a while to feel comfortable again in makeup and dresses, but I’m so happy I have because I just get to make fun, weird little outfits that play with traditional gender ideas.”
For Winter, her long blond hair has become her signature look. “It’s a symbol of me creating an identity for myself. My hair is core to my identity in a lot of ways, and while I was growing it out, a lot of my family members made fun of me or tried to get me to cut it, and the fact that it’s now this long feels kind of liberating to me in a way. Like it’s something I can look at every day and say, ‘I did this wholly myself, and wholly for myself’.”
For Cara self-confidence has been important. “I was never willing to change to make myself more palatable for others. I was made to feel shame for those things when I was younger, but I realized that I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I’m hairy, I’m fat, I have a mixture of feminine and masculine features, and I’m beautiful.”
Fork pictured here with his boyfriend Sebastian, who is also trans, first came out as a binary trans man. “I jumped headfirst into it, but now I’ve had more time, I identify more on the non-binary side of masculinity. I count myself incredibly grateful that the only hate I have gotten for being trans was receiving dirty looks in bathrooms, but I even got them pre-transition. At least now I can pull off a mustache, too. It’s horrifying to see all the anti-trans policies around currently; I wish we could all live safely and happily without being banned from bathrooms or sports because of our birth sex.”
Tahlia believes “that the words that the general public hears when our leaders express negativity and hatred onto us queer folk, order a violent threat onto the community and stresses the way we live entirely.” They are concerned that anti-trans vitriol from politicians will lead directly to violence and other hate crimes. She has had to deal with transphobic attitudes in her everyday life as well. “Judgement is projected on me a lot, but I tell myself, ‘What other people think of me is none of my business’ and continue to live my life in the most comfortable and protected way I can. Yes, I stand up for myself, and yes, I am proud of my identity however, protection is also important.”
Anshul left India to live openly and prioritize her mental health. “I can now express myself, and although that has nothing to do with my body, my body language is what my body wears, and that is more liberating now than ever before. But at the same time, hearing the transphobic statements of Rishi Sunak here was a bittersweet touch of irony to my journey.”
Kori can easily recall discrimination he’s faced for being trans. “My three sisters refused to use my pronouns and name for seven years, I was bullied at work for being trans many times, I’ve had people ask what’s in my trousers multiple times, and even had people stop talking to me because they found out I was trans. In the bathroom, there is always someone whispering about “why is this person in here.” He feels the anti-trans hate from politicians is ridiculous. “The UK and US governments know we are here to slay, so they are throwing us under the bus.”
For Maya, who was assigned female at birth, using women’s bathrooms is tricky. “I have had people yell at me and say, ‘Get out. You shouldn’t be here.’” They do their best to avoid escalating confrontations, “I just leave. It’s kind of uncomfortable.”
Avery has faced a lot of transphobia in the medical field. At 16, she went to her GP and told him she was trans, “He didn’t believe me and refused to refer me even though the NHS guidelines say you must refer a child. Even though it’s a ten-year waitlist, I still wanted to get referred, and he just wouldn’t let me. I ended up doing a self-referral, but that was after I already turned 18.” Getting on hormones did not end her discrimination, “My GP used to blame everything on me being on hormones. So he’d refuse to treat me for other illnesses.”
Avery can easily list the transphobia she’s faced, “I’ve had people harassing me, and I think the worst I’ve had are death threats, and my family weren’t very nice about it, and just people in public yelling. Especially earlier transition, that was when it was worse. I seem to get by pretty okay nowadays. I was once walking in Plymouth, and someone just started screaming faggot at me. ‘Fucking run faggot, or I’m going to stab you faggot’, and they just started chasing me. But it’s mostly people in cars. They have a confidence when you’re at a crossroads and have to stand there, and they’re driving by, and I feel like they say stuff they may not necessarily say normally.”
Hannah faces stigma “on a daily basis, working in a job where I face the general public. It’s hard to ignore. I think sometimes queer and trans people are so celebrated within pop culture and the arts it’s easy to forget that there is still so much education needed.”
Jay has struggled with the rise in trans visibility. “There have been many times where I receive calls or text messages from family members about an article or Facebook post they’ve seen about a (supposed) ten year old getting gender confirming surgery or litter boxes being used at schools for those who identify as cats. While visibility can be good, it can just as easily be turned on its head by those who wish to cause harm.”
The increased visibility of gender diversity is significant for Eathan. “Two Spirit people have always been a part of the lifeways and cultures of Turtle Island, so it’s only right that we are able to be seen in a way that we can authentically represent ourselves. If we’re able to authentically express ourselves, then it allows us to reclaim and decolonize all those layers put onto us by opposing forces.”
Tatania has “never been able to be ‘out’ at work. I struggle with the assumed binary of the workplace. As proud as I am about my trans-ness, the idea of explaining my preferred pronouns in the workplace frightens me. If there’s one thing I can’t afford as a trans person, it’s losing my job; due to stigma I don’t feel comfortable to be myself at work.”
Daya finds comfort in the resistance of other trans and marginalized people. “To those on the frontlines and those on the down low. Trans people are love and loved, and we are natural as nature, and we will be, grow and connect in the face of adversity-no matter what. I am proud to be loud, MAD, disabled, Queer, Polamourous and Trans!”
O is open about their identity online, but it “breaks my heart to see how often people use us as pawns to generate vitriol. I had a tiktok get reposted by libsoftiktok and the comments were horrific. Progress is not linear, but I often look to the trans folks of the past with awe and wonder. I can only hope that those who come after me will feel the same.”
Jae faces “racism and transphobia from both the cisgender heterosexual community as well as the queer community.” He is cognisant that visibility doesn’t necessarily mean acceptance. “In the 11 years I’ve been transitioning, I have seen a level of acceptance by society change for the worse in just the last 5 years. There has been positive change for sure, but unfortunately, the bad seems to outweigh the good right now.”
Being nonbinary in a very binary world has led to a “constant feeling of otherness” for Iz. “People don’t really know where to put me. ‘Are you a boy? or a girl? I don’t really know. You’re kind of different to all of us.’”
Elle is quite reflective of their long journey to be authentically themselves. “It’s only in the last six months that I’ve just got to a point where it’s like I don’t need to live somebody else’s life. This is my choice, I can be who I want. And I feel very grateful that I am living in a city where there are gay bars, where there are people I align with. And I think in that kind of community, I find confidence in myself.”
Max is anxious about the rise in anti-trans policies. “I don’t like to think about it, which I know is probably not what people want to hear. But I sort of dissociate whenever it comes up, it feels like things are going backwards for us and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”
