A photo of Sam Smith wearing a bejewelled sailor hat and matching shiny long gloves taken from their video for "I'm Not Here To Make Friends"

Sam Smith and the arseholes

Billy Connolly used to talk about arsehole detectors. Flamboyant trousers. Beards dyed in primary colours. These things upset the arseholes so much, just by existing, that arseholes reveal themselves by complaining loudly. Sam Smith is a perfect arsehole detector. Their body, their music, their gender, their pronouns, their videos: arseholes can’t help but comment loudly and persistently.
A photo of the crowd gathered in Glasgow in support of Scottish democracy and trans rights. Photo by Max @SpillerOfTea on Twitter

Scottish democracy and the fight for trans rights

On the 20th of December, I sat down in the Scottish Parliament viewing gallery watching Scottish democracy at work. Almost every MSP sat in the chamber preparing to debate one of the most disputed issues of the last five years - reforms to the Gender Recognition Act.
Healthcare spelled out in scrabble tiles. To represent trans healthcare on the NHS.

Trans healthcare on the NHS; a story of repeated failure

Between striking nurses and ambulance workers, twelve or more hour waits in A&E, and patients getting passed from service to service with no actual care provided, a lot of people are seeing what a non-functioning National Health Service can look like. A sight we are all to familiar with when trying to access trans healthcare on the NHS.
Parliament of Finland where Self ID in Finland is currently being proposed and debated

Self ID in Finland and the awful bigger picture

Self ID in Finland is on the horizon so we asked a Finnish trans writer to tell us about it and the wider context it exists in. Vilja Heikkilä writes;
Soho Square sign surrounded by Trans Pride London signs reaching things like "Trans Rights Now" from a trans rights protest in Westminster

This article was originally about a trans rights protest – but now it’s...

Under this government, every day existing a trans person is a trans rights protest, a protest that we will live our lives, be our true selves, and never give up despite their attacks on us writes Owen Hurcum
A picture of the welcome to England sign on the Scottish English border but has been edited to ask people to have their gender ready for inspection. A meme created to make fun of England's reaction to Scottish gender reforms

Why the UK Government will fail to undermine Scottish gender reforms; even if it...

On the 22nd of December, after 7 years of intense toxic debate, the Scottish Parliament finally voted through the Gender Recognition Reforms bill. Since then the UK Government has outlined two plans to undermine Scottish gender reforms. Both plans have massive ramifications and will fail.
The NHS logo; who are responsible for trans healthcare in the UK and its failings

Describing trans healthcare in the UK as in crisis in 2023 is “an understatement”

To say that the NHS is in crisis right now would be something of an understatement. Writes Alexis Chilvers as part of our push to raise the voices of trans people on trans healthcare in the UK in 2023.
Census 2021 logo which reads "census 2021" in a purple font and also includes the welsh for census too which is "cyfrifiad". This is the first official UK government survey to include transgender and non-binary census data.

A look at the transgender and non-binary census 2021 data

The Office for National Statistics has released data from the 2021 census which for the first time ever includes statistics about the numbers of trans and non-binary living in England and Wales. Here Tom Pashby takes a look at the transgender and non-binary census data;
Kim Petras and Sam Smith: Kim Petras performs live in Oregon in 2019

Kim Petras and Sam Smith top UK charts amidst moral panic

“everyone is talking on the scene” - What does the success of Kim Petras and Sam Smith say about the UK's attitude towards trans people? Oscar Rees writes;

#TransAwarenessWeek: Trans rage and why it’s necessary

Our first #TransAwarenessWeek piece is from Carrie Marshall who writes on the need for trans rage after our community was deliberately held back by societies and governments.