Finding safe and supportive communities as a trans or non-binary person

We face discrimination in our everyday lives and hostility to trans lives is hard to escape. When you simply go to the shops, the newspaper headlines are full of portrayals of trans people (particularly trans women) as deceptive and predatory, with any bad actions by individuals generalised to portray all trans people as dangerous. Going to the bathroom or walking down the street involves the fear and often reality that you will be verbally or physically abused. Research by Scottish Trans in 2024³ found trans and non-binary people were less likely to positively rate their neighbourhood compared to the general population with over 60% avoiding at least one public service due to fear of being outed or harassed due to being trans. Fear unfortunately can be a daily reality of being trans.  

This has only intensified following the recent Supreme Court decision⁴, where despite no trans people being heard by the court, it was unanimously decided that women in the Equality Act (2010) refers exclusively to cisgender (non-transgender) women. Statements by politicians and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have only intensified the fear and despair of trans and non-binary people that we will be excluded from the spaces and services that enable us to go about our daily lives. 

Trans and non-binary people already avoid a lot of public services, especially bathrooms and this ruling and statements by politicians as well as forthcoming EHRC guidance will only make it harder for trans and non-binary people to work, study, volunteer, exercise, socialise and attend appointments. In response trans and non-binary people have organised protests across the UK and we recognise that this attack on our rights will only make women and other marginalised communities less safe alongside trans and non-binary people. 

Being trans or non-binary is not a mental health condition but facing transphobia in our everyday lives means many of us develop poor mental health.

Supportive communities can go some way to meeting the unmet needs of trans and non-binary people.  

This is particularly the case in trans and non-binary specific communities where peer and social support can be invaluable in enabling our survival. Such communities where trans people can connect with others, learn skills and support each other are necessary when public services and society fail to meet our basic needs. Mutual aid and informal support and volunteering are therefore common in communities of marginalised people such as trans and non-binary people when other services fail to include us or protect us from harm.  

Trans and non-binary people have always been here and so have trans and non-binary communities, even when wider society has been and continues to be hostile to our existence and participation in everyday life. 

A lot of trans and non-binary people who are already more likely to have low income must choose between transition related costs and buying food and paying bills and unlike transphobic hate groups which are well funded (including by socially conservative organisations in the USA), many organisations that support trans and non-binary people are underfunded. Therefore, practices of mutual aid where trans and non-binary people support each other despite limited resources are vital. Whether this is a community meal, crowdfunding for transition related costs, self and collective advocacy or protesting the erosion of trans rights, it is important that we build communities of self and collective care.  

This connection and mutual aid can help us respond to the hostility to our lives with hope instead of despair. Supportive communities are essential for maintaining our mental health and wellbeing as well as ever increasing the spaces we don’t have to feel constant anxiety, fear and despair. Where together we can talk, perform, create, take action and even just exist.