"Living Nightmare" For Trans People in Britain Is Our American Future

“It feels like every day there's a new attack on us”

Britain’s governmental equal rights watchdog Equality and Human Rights Commission is the latest UK institution to lean in on transphobia, the latest move in a broad attack on trans people in the country that’s rooted in its government, media, and culture.

Last month, leaked guidance from the commission revealed the EHRC plans to exclude trans people from gender-restricted areas unless they show an appropriate Gender Recognition Certificate. Only 1% of trans Britons have a GRC. 

“Life for trans people in Britain has turned into a living nightmare over the last five years,” former television presenter India Willoughby told me last month, adding, “These are very dark times.”

Willoughby and other trans Britons I spoke to described a worsening situation in the UK for trans people, mirroring the conditions in parts of the US.

The anti-trans hate movements in both countries are connected through funding and ideology, and are part of a web of bigotry that is having a deleterious effect on the mental and emotional health of its victims.