1. Champo feels more at home in their body now than ever. “In recent years, I have been able to confidently present as queer through my clothes, haircuts, facial hair and overall physicality. This has brought me so much peace. I feel most at home in my body during summer months, when I spend hours on end outdoors living a more active life.”

4. O is open about their identity online, but it “breaks my heart to see how often people use us as pawns to generate vitriol. I had a tiktok get reposted by libsoftiktok and the comments were horrific. Progress is not linear, but I often look to the trans folks of the past with awe and wonder. I can only hope that those who come after me will feel the same.”

7. Tatania has “never been able to be ‘out’ at work. I struggle with the assumed binary of the workplace. As proud as I am about my trans-ness, the idea of explaining my preferred pronouns in the workplace frightens me. If there’s one thing I can’t afford as a trans person, it’s losing my job; due to stigma I don’t feel comfortable to be myself at work.”

10. Ollie feels at home in her body most days. “Wearing more feminine clothes helps me see my body in a new light and feel more comfortable. Feminine clothing has always made me feel at home in my body, for how it can help my more masculine features disappear.”

13. Fork, pictured here with Sebastian, his boyfriend at the time who is also trans, feels “incredibly grateful that the only hate I have gotten for being trans was receiving dirty looks in bathrooms. It's horrifying to see all the anti-trans policies around currently; I wish we could all live safely and happily without being banned from bathrooms or sports because of our birth sex.”

2. Daya finds comfort in the resistance of other trans and marginalized people. “To those on the frontlines and those on the down low. Trans people are love and loved, and we are natural as nature, and we will be, grow and connect in the face of adversity-no matter what. I am proud to be loud, MAD, disabled, Queer, Polamourous and Trans!”

5. Jae faces “racism and transphobia from both the cisgender heterosexual community as well as the queer community.” He is cognisant that visibility doesn’t necessarily mean acceptance. “In the 11 years I’ve been transitioning, I have seen a level of acceptance by society change for the worse in just the last 5 years. There has been positive change for sure, but unfortunately, the bad seems to outweigh the good right now.”

8. Being nonbinary in a very binary world has led to a “constant feeling of otherness” for Iz. “People don’t really know where to put me. ‘Are you a boy? or a girl? I don’t really know. You’re kind of different to all of us.’”

11. Merle finds the rise in anti-trans policy “really scary and disappointing. I remember feeling when I was younger like there was progress being made, and there still is, but in today’s political climate I can no longer hold onto the feeling that I have a steady progression towards a brighter future. I think the rise in violence and fear towards queer and trans people, fascism and hatred are growing at the moment, and it means that we need to be brave and support each other.”

14. For Anshul, leaving India for Britain “allowed me to express myself more freely, in the clothes I wear and small gestures and behaviours that were previously deemed too feminine and repressed.” She finds being able to live openly “more liberating now than ever before” and that hearing statements from former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is of South Asian descent, “was a bittersweet touch of irony to my journey.”

3. Cory can easily recall the discrimination he’s faced for being trans. “My three sisters refused to use my pronouns and name for 7 years, I was bullied at work for being trans many times, I’ve had people ask what's in my trousers multiple times, and even had people stop talking to me because they found out I was trans. In the bathroom, there is always someone whispering about ‘why is this person in here.’” He feels the anti-trans hate from politicians is ridiculous. “The UK and US governments know we are here to slay, so they are throwing us under the bus.”

6. Parker feels kind of at home in his body. He says, “I do feel more at home than in the past, and it's because I have supportive people around me to help me through bad days. I feel most at home in my body when I'm acting on stage or in my room with my partner.

9. Avery can easily list the transphobia she’s faced, “I’ve had people harassing me, and I think the worst I’ve had are death threats, and my family weren’t very nice about it, and just people in public yelling. Especially earlier transition, that was when it was worse. I seem to get by pretty okay nowadays. I was once walking in Plymouth, and someone just started screaming faggot at me. ‘Fucking run faggot, or I’m going to stab you faggot’, and they just started chasing me. But it’s mostly people in cars. They have a confidence when you’re at a crossroads and have to stand there, and they’re driving by, and I feel like they say stuff they may not necessarily say normally.”

12. For Maya, who was assigned female at birth, using women’s bathrooms is tricky. “I have had people yell at me and say, ‘Get out. You shouldn’t be here.’” They do their best to avoid escalating confrontations, “I just leave. It’s kind of uncomfortable.”

15. For Cara, there have always been parts of her body that others have issues with. “I was never willing to change to make myself more palatable for others. I was made to feel shame for those things when I was younger, but I realized that I don't care what anyone else thinks. I'm hairy, I'm fat, I have a mixture of feminine and masculine features, and I'm beautiful.”