This is a transcript of a speech given by Chay Brown, TransActual’s Director of Operations, at the 2023 TUC LGBT+ Conference. Please note that this is what Chay planned to say, and would have said had he not got side tracked!
Category: Features
The last few years have been dire for British trans people, with a constant churn of governments proposing whatever policies they can think of to make our lives harder.
Being trans in 2023 means knowing deep in your bones that looking out to the world to confirm that you’re safe and that your needs will be met is simply not an option.
There are times to sit back and relax and there are times to step up and do something. And we’re most effective when we work together.
I heard stories of other trans people’s gender diagnosis appointments, and how a diagnosis of autism can work against the trans person as they may not be deemed to have sufficient mental capacity to understand themselves, or lack sufficient life experience to ‘know for sure’. I panicked.
The first time I approached a doctor about a medical transition, I was eighteen years old, and instead of listening to what I was saying, this cis, White, male GP instead questioned the validity of my gender dysphoria, prodding into whether I was ‘really sure’, as I was ‘still a young woman’