Hey, I’m a trans person from Florida. I got out before things got bad, but they’re really really bad right now. It’s now impossible to change the gender marker on your driver’s license, and they’ve made it illegal to have one that’s different from your original birth certificate. There’s bathroom bill nonsense and they’ve made trans healthcare for adults extremely difficult to get. Things are actively worse now than they were a dozen years ago when I came out, and I came out during the bad old days - I needed a therapist letter to start medically transitioning and had to attend the in person trans support group meetings to find out which medical providers offered healthcare. Things are fucked. We’re well past the point where trans people needed to start fleeing from that state.
Not in the UK. I’ve read enough of the BBS archive and Susan’s to ugly cry sometimes at how trans people had it so easy in the late 90s- 2000s would transition in like 2 years and no one would care. I’ve been on a waitlist for 10 years and just now getting to SRS. My gf will never be seen by anyone. There’s no hope of affording anything private. We all DIY hormones ofc, but can’t DIY surgery exactly.
In the UK hate crime is on the rise, the media tries to suppress it because they cause it. The police is also less likely to investigate it. The media are instigators, inciting hatred as much as they can and pushing boundaries, most coverage around trans issues is outright false, or in the case of the BBC transparently misleading, almost as a directed insult in some Orwellian dystopia.
Meanwhile levels of transphobia per polls in the general public are extremely high in terms of actual support for any of our rights. Most think we shouldn’t have healthcare or use locker rooms/bathrooms of our gender.
US is a paradise in comparison, but I could never afford to move there, all I can do is count my blessings I escaped Russia and managed to at least stick around in the UK. I do hope reps don’t win with the project 2025 over there though.
I do not give a shit about the climate, but we must eradicate reactionaries before then out of politics or the ensuing immigration crisis will turn the average Joe fascist, and by extension his country, and then yeah, things will get even worse.
It’s a long video, but this video by Philosophy Tube explains why it’s definitely a trans rights problem, not just the broken NHS. The long wait times across the board is what makes the trans healthcare side of it so outrageous, because it’s structured in a way that takes an already bad problem (shortage of services) and makes it so much worse through gatekeeping and bureaucracy.
Your comment also inadvertently highlights one of the especially insidious aspects of UK trans healthcare being broken and nonsense — it’s fairly common knowledge that the NHS is on its knees, so activism aimed at making trans healthcare less shit is often perceived as an attempt to “jump the queue” so to speak, which feeds into anti-trans sentiment. (To be clear, no negativity is intended towards you here, I think that unless you have direct experience of trans healthcare in the UK, it’s hard to know just how bad it is).
I was going to give a couple of examples of the kind of gatekeeping I mean, but I’m bad at brevity; if you’re someone who watches video essays, I would strongly recommend the Philosophy Tube one above. It’s even pretty entertaining, for such a grim topic.
I read your comment and desperately wanted to reply with something reassuring, but you’re right, it’s utterly fucked and it’s terrifying. It makes it hard to be hopeful. This is probably the opposite of “reassuring”, but I’d rather acknowledge how awful things are and be here with you for a moment than to scroll by. I’m cis, but being in community with trans folk in the UK has made it clearer than ever that none of us are free until all of us are free. Sympathy and solidarity to you, and the strength to keep resisting.
I hate to break it to you, but humanity as a whole is going through a rise in far right ideologies. India, Hungary, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, china, chile, Colombia…that’s just what I remember off the top of my head. Which is saying something, because my memory isn’t a steel trap by any means. I guarantee you there are other countries facing a serious push from serious far right…well, fascists. They’re fascists.
Compared to the past trans people have way more rights and options right now. Gay marriage is also becoming legal in more countries.
And even if the media tries to push that crime is on the rise… it’s the opposite, actual crime statistics are going down year after year.
Right wing crazies/conservatives are a big problem of course (though more so in the US).
If you want to be negative about the future you only have to look at the climate crisis though. Things are going to get fucked in 10-20 years.
Hey, I’m a trans person from Florida. I got out before things got bad, but they’re really really bad right now. It’s now impossible to change the gender marker on your driver’s license, and they’ve made it illegal to have one that’s different from your original birth certificate. There’s bathroom bill nonsense and they’ve made trans healthcare for adults extremely difficult to get. Things are actively worse now than they were a dozen years ago when I came out, and I came out during the bad old days - I needed a therapist letter to start medically transitioning and had to attend the in person trans support group meetings to find out which medical providers offered healthcare. Things are fucked. We’re well past the point where trans people needed to start fleeing from that state.
EDIT:
Not in the UK. I’ve read enough of the BBS archive and Susan’s to ugly cry sometimes at how trans people had it so easy in the late 90s- 2000s would transition in like 2 years and no one would care. I’ve been on a waitlist for 10 years and just now getting to SRS. My gf will never be seen by anyone. There’s no hope of affording anything private. We all DIY hormones ofc, but can’t DIY surgery exactly.
In the UK hate crime is on the rise, the media tries to suppress it because they cause it. The police is also less likely to investigate it. The media are instigators, inciting hatred as much as they can and pushing boundaries, most coverage around trans issues is outright false, or in the case of the BBC transparently misleading, almost as a directed insult in some Orwellian dystopia.
Meanwhile levels of transphobia per polls in the general public are extremely high in terms of actual support for any of our rights. Most think we shouldn’t have healthcare or use locker rooms/bathrooms of our gender.
US is a paradise in comparison, but I could never afford to move there, all I can do is count my blessings I escaped Russia and managed to at least stick around in the UK. I do hope reps don’t win with the project 2025 over there though.
I do not give a shit about the climate, but we must eradicate reactionaries before then out of politics or the ensuing immigration crisis will turn the average Joe fascist, and by extension his country, and then yeah, things will get even worse.
I mean that’s an NHS problem, not a trans problem, isn’t it? The healthcare system in the UK is messed up. You got long wait times for most things.
It’s a long video, but this video by Philosophy Tube explains why it’s definitely a trans rights problem, not just the broken NHS. The long wait times across the board is what makes the trans healthcare side of it so outrageous, because it’s structured in a way that takes an already bad problem (shortage of services) and makes it so much worse through gatekeeping and bureaucracy.
Your comment also inadvertently highlights one of the especially insidious aspects of UK trans healthcare being broken and nonsense — it’s fairly common knowledge that the NHS is on its knees, so activism aimed at making trans healthcare less shit is often perceived as an attempt to “jump the queue” so to speak, which feeds into anti-trans sentiment. (To be clear, no negativity is intended towards you here, I think that unless you have direct experience of trans healthcare in the UK, it’s hard to know just how bad it is).
I was going to give a couple of examples of the kind of gatekeeping I mean, but I’m bad at brevity; if you’re someone who watches video essays, I would strongly recommend the Philosophy Tube one above. It’s even pretty entertaining, for such a grim topic.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
this video by Philosophy Tube
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Long but not 25 years long. I got my entire ADHD sorted while I was waiting just for a surgical appt
I read your comment and desperately wanted to reply with something reassuring, but you’re right, it’s utterly fucked and it’s terrifying. It makes it hard to be hopeful. This is probably the opposite of “reassuring”, but I’d rather acknowledge how awful things are and be here with you for a moment than to scroll by. I’m cis, but being in community with trans folk in the UK has made it clearer than ever that none of us are free until all of us are free. Sympathy and solidarity to you, and the strength to keep resisting.
I hate to break it to you, but humanity as a whole is going through a rise in far right ideologies. India, Hungary, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, china, chile, Colombia…that’s just what I remember off the top of my head. Which is saying something, because my memory isn’t a steel trap by any means. I guarantee you there are other countries facing a serious push from serious far right…well, fascists. They’re fascists.