Transgender Awareness Week - Q&A with THA

Thursday 13 November marked the start of this year's Transgender Awareness Week, culminating in Trans day of Resilience. This is a time to celebrate our history, educate about our struggles, mourn our losses, and take strength from our beautiful community.

This year, we at Trans Healthcare Action wanted to do something special: we spent the week gathering quotes from our dedicated volunteers to showcase to you! Below, you’ll find a number of questions and a collection of answers from our team, to give you an insight into our experiences. Read on below to see what’s most important to our members: from what we wish people knew about our lives, to discussion on advocacy and community building!

Q&A with THA

In the spirit of “awareness”, our first question was an obvious choice.

Question: What do you wish everyone understood about trans experience?

“That it's not about realising a singular truth about yourself. It's a process of exploration. Slowly finding all the little things that could bring you joy if they weren't arbitrarily withheld from you. You can just try them out, see how it feels and stick with what gives you a euphoria even if it doesn't fit gendered expectations.”

-Gary, 34, Kilkenny

“Transitioning didn't solve all my problems, but it did make all of my problems suddenly seem solvable. It gave me the confidence to live, to explore, to better myself and those around me. Life still isn't perfect, it never can be. But my worst days now are better than my best days before.”

-Órlaith, 38, Galway

“The joy of finding out who you really are, of finding a community that accepts you. The joy of confronting and overcoming expectations placed upon you and the joy in celebrating the lives of those we've lost. The joy in being ourselves despite everything.“

-Rosaline Keane Kelly, 27, Galway

The theme of “expectation” mentioned by Rosaline is one we saw repeated through different questions, such as in Cristine’s answer below:

Question: What impact do you want trans people to have on our society?

“I want the presence of trans people in society to act as a key to unlocking societal expectation. Allowing everyone to question the structures around them and liberate themselves from the expectations put upon them, and that they put on others.”

-Cristine Walker Redmond, 32, Dublin

Naturally, with the week ending in Transgender Day of Resilience, we had to ask our volunteers about it:

Question: What does a resilient trans community look like to you? How are you creating it, in small or big ways?

“A resilient community is one that maintains compassion despite their struggles. One that refuses to become bitter, numb, or apathetic. We build resilience when we show kindness and warmth to each other, even when we're hurting inside.”

-Ciara W, 29, Offaly

Finally, we asked our members about how they wanted to see people working change - about how to turn our resilience into meaningful impact.

Question: How do you want to see people engage in advocacy for trans liberation?

“I want to see trans people leading with their own voices and stories. Personal, authentic stories are extremely powerful, we should be using them. Be that with politicians, the HSE, our doctors, our friends or our families. Our collective strength is immense, beautiful and powerful.

“LGBTQI+ activism in Ireland feels like it has been in stasis since marriage equality, it has lost its radical edge, we need to find it again. Since the passage of the Gender Recognition Act nothing has changed. Stagnation in the law and regressive policies have left Ireland (once a world leader on trans rights) with the [worst] trans healthcare in Europe. This must change.

“People from all walks of life are dedicating their lives to seeing positive change happen for trans, gender diverse and intersex folks in Ireland and across the world. They each do it in their own way, be it creating art in any of its forms, telling their stories, advocating for their communities or going out and having a good protest! It is truly humbling to see.

“I am confident that we will overcome all of the challenges we face, that we will achieve trans liberation. I do not see how anything else could be possible with the hard work, heart and soul people are devoting to see it happen!”

-Morr O'Malley, 33, Galway

Final Thoughts

Our volunteers’ answers speak of joy, compassion, boundary breaking, and bettering not only ourselves, but society as a whole! Though we all have our own experiences – our own personal views – these repeating themes are central to our transitions. We allow ourselves to explore beyond what is expected of us, and to find joy in what we discover. Likewise, we won’t settle for a society that treats us unjustly; the same mindset that lets us question ourselves pushes us to question the structures around us, and strive for better solutions.

And if you, reader, want to join us in our struggle for liberated healthcare, the first step is to reach out.