Every year on 31st March, the world celebrates International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). Started by transgender activist Rachel Crandall in 2009, the awareness day takes a global perspective in celebrating trans and non-binary people, while raising awareness of ongoing discrimination worldwide.

So in the pursuit of awareness, it seems obvious that we should hear about the lived experience of being trans from trans people themselves, doesn’t it? Yet as the UK government looks to remove and criminalise gender-affirming care for trans youth, it’s clear that logic does not always prevail. Those with the most power to make positive change; those people currently being the Conservative party, unfortunately; aren’t only suppressing the voices that really matter when it comes to their own needs; they’re playing with their lives.

The latest Health and Equalities Act (Amendment) Bill outlines plans to fine or imprison healthcare professionals who prescribe hormone treatment to under-18s. And it doesn’t stop there; the bill has ambitions to restrict more than just body-altering treatment. It’s also seeking to redefine sex to biological sex only, so that public authorities cannot recognise those under 18 as having a gender that is inconsistent with the latter. In fact, the Tories hate the word gender completely, with its far more liberal definition of ‘the social, psychological, cultural and behavioural aspects of being a man, woman, or other gender identity’. Their hope is for teachers to be banned from even acknowledging the right to self-identify gender, addressing students with only pronouns assigned at birth and names consistent with that.

Read more in the Change.org petition of trans campaigner Jaxon Feeley (a fellow Wiganer, like me!) on the dire consequences if this proposal is seen through. In his words, “This will not only frighten anyone who currently fights to help the already marginalised and hopeless, but begin a turn of events that completely eradicates the existence and acknowledgement of a child's true identity…leading the UK into an even bigger mental health crisis.” (Do take a minute to sign Jaxon’s petition too.) For anyone still dubious about protecting children’s rights to self-expression, a 2021 study showed that 78% of trans men, and 73% of trans women, experienced gender dysphoria for the first time between the ages of three and seven. In other words, trans people know who they are and how they feel in their bodies well before they turn 18, if they’re lucky enough to reach that age.

So while many believe the world is becoming more progressive than ever (meaning the ‘lefty loonies’ or ‘woke agenda’ care a bit too much about human rights for their liking), there’s still a lot to be desired when it comes to recognising that gender is a social construct and unisex public toilets are no more cause for worry today than they were when first rolled out in ancient Rome. In fact, progress is being rolled back literal decades on that front. See this Guardian article from back in 2016 on how the NHS was setting aside more funding for gender identity services, as the number of people seeking treatment had rapidly increased over the previous ten years.

At the heart of the urgent need to stop further discrimination is the fact that, if left ignored and unsupported, gender dysphoria can lead to fatal consequences. Don’t just take the trans communities’ word for it - or, God forbid, Liz Truss’s - read about it on the website of the *actual* NHS. Let’s for a microsecond indulge the argument that under-18s are in no position to make such important irreversible decisions about their lives, before considering how that holds up against the fact that suicide is, arguably, somewhat even less reversible?

Let’s also consider how the former argument stands when recognising that many people under 18 are forced into pregnancies around the world, in areas where abortion cannot be accessed. In fact, some women in the UK are now being prosecuted over abortion, with investigations into further cases on the rise. And yes, some of them were teenagers when they had the abortion. Giving birth, too, is irreversible, yet there are whole systems in place to force people under 18 to go through it. So let’s spare the feigned horror, from the gatekeepers of those same systems and ideologies, that trans people under 18 would like to do what they will with their own bodies, to save their own lives. Basically, can we just have the same energy for bodily autonomy across the board, as is given to outrage about hormone therapy and scaremongering for single-sex spaces?

Bringing suicide into this discussion is far from hyperbole. Numerous studies show that attempted suicide rates among gender dysphoric teens are around 30%, with body dissatisfaction a risk factor for suicidality. Then consider also, the argument that taking away potentially life-saving healthcare is about ‘protecting’ young people. In reality, the proposed changes mean only adults over 18 will be protected from life-threatening psychological distress, while children and teens will not. So you see, that interminably trotted-out line of “Will someone please think of the children?!”, so beloved by TERFs, is about as authentic as The Simpsons’ Helen Lovejoy screeching into the void at a Springfield prohibition rally.

So it’s more important than ever to help amplify the voices of the transgender community, learn how prejudice impacts them and actively champion trans equality. We have to listen to trans people when they talk about the issues they face, rather than getting caught up in echo chambers of bitter debate and culture wars that don’t centre trans voices. We have to let transgender people know that they belong in society as much as anyone else does.

In this article, we’ll hear inspiring stories from five trans people in the UK and America, about what it *really* is to be proudly, freely themselves. They shared with me the experiences that need to be recognised and celebrated not only in the fight for social justice, but when we talk about what it means for human beings to live our truths and be loved for who we are. The contributors have also generously imparted advice for the younger generation of trans people and talked about what makes them feel proud of the lives they’re living; the lives they chose and are now thriving in. I’ve talked so far about the situation in the UK, but we’ll also hear about how things currently stand for transgender people in the US, and the ways in which the community there are affected by the actions of their own government.

Thank you for reading these stories and helping to promote transgender visibility. I hope you enjoy hearing from Maya, George, Remy, Lucy and Aaron just as much as I did.