#TransformOurHealth
An action campaign for transgender health and wellbeing
This is a call for action. We work to improve the health and wellbeing of transgender people, and the need for this has never been more urgent. As debate rages and services are strained, we are seeing a real impact on the health of trans people in our community. We didn’t think things could get worse than they already were – 7 in 10 trans people have experienced depression and more than a third have attempted suicide. Even against this backdrop, we’ve had reason to stay hopeful. We see the life changing impact of our mental health work. We hear from trans people about the difference that we make and we see people’s courage and resilience. But we need your help.
It seemed that society was becoming more tolerant, more gender aware, more inclusive and that if we just worked alongside this tide of progress we would get there. Trans people’s health would improve – too slowly, perhaps, but steadily nonetheless. But we’re being knocked back. Public awareness of trans lives has exploded – but without accurate information, respect and compassion. The debate is toxic, the negativity relentless. The impact on our community is huge.
Being an ally has never been more important. It’s time for us to stand together. And we know this is already happening. The thing is, though, the ‘debate’ rages on and the people who are the focus of the prejudice, misinformation and hatred are struggling. It’s hard to take strength in the fact you have allies when everywhere your allies are being shouted down. We are working in many different ways, desperately trying to repair the damage that’s being done, and we will continue to do this. But we’ve come to the conclusion that we need help – practical, tangible help. We need actions, small and big, to improve trans health. We need you to take action with us.
It’s a simple ask, but we understand that sometimes for allies it can be difficult to know exactly what would help. So we’re going to start sharing some practical steps you can take to improve trans people’s health and wellbeing. We firmly believe that the personal is political and that we must work at every level of society to keep ourselves well. We’ll start things off here with a really simple thing everyone can do. We’ll continue to post more through our blog and through all our social media platforms, and we’ll indicate who our ideas apply to – they might be for everyone or for those with particular skills or roles. We’ll do this for as long as it takes. And we absolutely welcome you joining in with ideas of your own!
So please follow us – and please help us. Our community is experiencing a health crisis and we simply can’t resolve it alone.
Action 1: Embrace pronouns
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This is one you may have head of already. Asking which pronouns a person uses – and then using those pronouns when talking about or addressing them – can make a massive difference to how a trans person feels. It is the difference between being acknowledged as yourself or feeling invisible.
Examples of pronouns are: she/her for female identified people; they/them for non-binary people; he/him for male identified people.
We all have pronouns we identify with. If people don’t regularly mistake your gender, it’s unlikely you’ve really had to think about this. But if someone referred to you by a gender other than your own, you’d certainly feel something about it. By actively sharing your own pronouns, you can demonstrate your awareness that pronouns matter – that you too have pronouns you expect people to use. This can help trans people around you to feel more confident in asking that their own pronouns are respected.
Places you might share your pronouns:
- Include your pronouns under your name on your email footer at work, and ask colleagues to do the same. We’ve been so pleased to hear from many organisations who already do this!
- If you have to make a name badge for yourself at an event you’re attending, include your pronouns.
- During introductions at meetings, ask that people let you know which pronouns they use. This will help you address them correctly.
- If you are meeting someone for the first time, simply ask how they like to be known (in lots of situations you would ask this anyway) and what pronouns they use.
We hope this helps. And we would love to hear your positive experiences of sharing and respecting people’s pronouns.
Action 2: Be clear that trans inclusion is important to you
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Does your job involve delivering a service or dealing with the public? If it does, it can really make a difference if you’re able to consider how a trans person might feel in that space and what you can do to signal they are welcome there. This might involve refraining from addressing people as ‘madam’ or ‘sir’, ensuring people are able to access toilets or fitting rooms they feel comfortable in, displaying a rainbow flag somewhere to help people feel better about coming out and asking for what they need, or seeking trans inclusion training for you and your team.
What have we missed? What else would help?
It’s so important to let trans and non-binary people know they are accepted for who they are and they will be treated fairly and with dignity and respect. And we don’t believe it’s possible to send this message too loudly or too frequently.
The fewer barriers people face to being recognised as themselves and being able to express their needs, the more confident they will feel in approaching services. When we repeatedly experience challenge or rejection we start to expect this, and we’re therefore less likely to ask for help because we anticipate an experience which will leave us emotionally drained.
Did you know, for example, that LGBT+ people generally are more likely to delay their engagement with services because they anticipate prejudice and discrimination?
But the more positive experiences we have, the more confident we feel in asking for help when we need it.
This belief is what motivated us to join our friends at HIV Scotland, Terence Higgins Trust Scotland, Scottish Drugs Forum and Waverley Care to ask the Scottish Government to go ahead with reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) to make it easier for trans and non-binary people to change their birth certificates. Please do what you can to let trans and non-binary people know you will treat them fairly. Help build confidence and spread more of the accepting and inclusive ethos we’d all like to see.
Action 3: Don’t judge people by what they wear
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Trans and non-binary people face many barriers to feeling comfortable and safe in expressing themselves every day. One of these barriers is being able to wear clothes that help them feel like themselves.
For people who have body shapes which do not conform to the standard ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ fashion ideals, clothes can be a real challenge. There may be a need to shop around or get creative. And it can be particularly important to feel confident about asking to try on clothes and shoes in shops, and to have positive experiences doing this.
For some trans people, it takes time to build up enough confidence to go shopping for clothes they are comfortable in and to dress as they’d like. Moreover, many trans people in our community are on low incomes and struggle to find and afford clothes and shoes they like.
Adding to these challenges, as a society we still have very binary ideas about dressing in our gender. And trans people can feel judged when they do not conform to ideas about expressing femininity or masculinity ‘well’ enough. Will people believe they are trans? Will they be mis-gendered (again)? On a level, this is maybe something we can all relate to – how do you express your identity in a totally satisfactory way? This is especially pertinent if you feel ‘wearing’ your identity is key to being accepted and treated appropriately.
So we’re asking you to remember that getting dressed isn’t easy. It can take time, money, thought – and we don’t all have these resources in abundance! Don’t judge. Always we kind.
