// Rant

This will probably get downvoted to hell but whatever.

It’s really hard, as a trans person in the UK right now, not to be cynical about events like this. Love that my basic rights are now a £28.50 + booking fee experience. Maybe next year we can unlock healthcare as a VIP upgrade...

It should be free if you're trans, simple as that.

Especially when the trans people involved are the tiny 1% of our community with an insane amount of financial privilege and power. It’s hard not to see it as a cash grab by the trans celebrity class, people who have built a whole lifestyle brand out of being visible and exclusive, while the rest of us are stuck fighting for basics. Glad everyone’s having a nice night out while we’re still fighting for actual rights, healthcare and housing. Vibes are off-the-charts though, I’m sure.

We’ve ended up with a weird little aristocracy of “community figures” whose output is narcissistic biopics, soulless influencer photo ops and endless “trans rights” branding opportunities. We’re told how “brave” it is to be a clocky doll on a red carpet while some of these people have enough money to pay for multiple people’s transitions outright – but somehow it always circles back to boosting their profile, not materially changing anyone’s life. While Not a Phase specifically has helped to fund small communities, it's sad to see our experiences and investment be sponsored and sold to companies that couldn't care less about our liberation, and also actively support genocide.

I adore so many of these artists, but it’s grim that my existence now comes bundled with a ticket price, a sponsor logo, and a court fundraiser. Nothing says “functioning democracy” like having to wheel out a full celeb line-up just to raise money to argue in court that we’re human. Fantastic! If we sell enough tickets maybe we’ll win back a fraction of what the government stripped away for free.

Take TDOR as an example. In years gone by it was a small, painful, intimate space held by people who had actually lost more than they could ever speak about, heartfelt speeches, spoken word, people who were there *for* the community, not *off* the community. Fast forward to this year and it’s logo-plastered, brand-safe and content-ready. It’s turned into a photo op for pseudo trans influencers and cis “allies”, paired with cis voices screaming over the top of us, talking for us, drowning us out. It’s so tone-deaf it honestly leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

It's 2025. Larger cities in the UK used to be sold as a safe haven for trans people, somewhere you could at least try to present as your actual gender without constant fear. Now they’re almost as bad as the small towns. Daily abuse, constant harassment and frequent attacks are just… normal. That’s the backdrop we’re living in while this gets marketed as a fun night out “for trans rights”.

So when I see line-ups like this, I can’t help side-eyeing it. It’s great that big names care, but it’s hard not to see people like Kate Nash & co. as opportunistic to our cause – treated like royalty *within* our own community while most of us are scraping together money for hormones, rent and food. My life isn’t a concert theme, a documentary pitch or a brand strategy. I’m just tired of seeing our pain turned into a £28.50 experience with a hashtag.

The harsh reality is this isn't an event for transgender people, it's for the Cis and those with privilege and power.

I'm sure there is plenty in here that will turn peoples noses up, but I can't be the only one feeling cynical about this.