2026 Feels different but I’m still here.

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about what 2026 feels like as a transgender woman.

Not just in a political sense, or in terms of headlines—but in the day-to-day reality of existing in public spaces, making choices about where I feel safe, and trying to live a normal life in a world that keeps debating whether people like me should have to justify it.

And honestly, it feels like a year of contradictions.

Some things are better than they used to be. Visibility is higher. More people understand trans identities than ever before. There are more conversations, more representation, more language for who we are.

But at the same time, there’s also more tension. More scrutiny. More policies being rewritten in ways that feel like they are trying to define us more tightly rather than understand us more fully.

🚻 Living in a world of “rules” that don’t always feel real

One of the hardest things in 2026 is how inconsistent everything feels.

Depending on where I am, I might be:

• completely accepted without question
• quietly assessed by policy rather than people
• or suddenly reminded that some spaces see me differently than I see myself

There’s no single experience anymore. It changes from place to place, building to building, even person to person.

What makes it harder is that the rules are often written in a way that sounds simple on paper—but life isn’t simple.

People don’t exist as categories. We exist as people.

And sometimes it feels like policy is still catching up to that basic truth.

🧠 The emotional weight people don’t always see

What doesn’t always get talked about is the mental side of all this.

It’s not just about laws or access to spaces—it’s the constant background calculation many trans women end up doing:

• Is this place safe for me?
• Will I be questioned here?
• Do I need to explain myself today—or not?

That kind of thinking becomes normal over time, but it’s still exhausting.

And yet, life doesn’t stop for politics. You still go to work. You still meet friends. You still try to build something meaningful.

So most of us just keep adapting.

🏳️‍⚧️ What has actually changed in 2026

If I try to be fair and honest, 2026 isn’t just one story.

Some things that stand out:

• More awareness of trans issues in mainstream conversation
• More structured policies in public institutions
• More debate, more visibility, more opinion everywhere
• But also more inconsistency in how those policies are applied

It feels less like a straight line of progress or setback—and more like a patchwork.

Some parts of life feel more open than before. Others feel more uncertain.

Both can be true at the same time.

🌍 What I’ve learned about moving forward

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that waiting for the world to “finish deciding” who we are isn’t a plan.

Life happens in the meantime.

So I focus more on what I can actually build around me:

• people who see me as I am, not as a debate
• spaces where I don’t have to explain myself
• routines that keep me grounded when the outside world feels loud

And I’ve also learned that change doesn’t only come from big systems. It also comes from small things:

• conversations that shift someone’s understanding
• local communities that quietly support each other
• showing up consistently, even when things feel uncertain

Those things matter more than they look like they should.

✨ Final thought

Being a transgender woman in 2026 isn’t one single experience. It’s layered, shifting, sometimes frustrating, sometimes affirming—but always real.

And even when the world feels like it’s still arguing about definitions, I’ve learned something simple:

I don’t have to wait for perfect clarity from everyone else in order to live my life with clarity myself.

Transgender music to listen to.

Terrorvision is a band from the Bradford area of West Yorkshire in Great Britain.


Terrovision released this single in 1998, singing about Josephine, who they first knew as Joe. She was always a good friend (“when friends were hard to find”), and, thankfully, her transition was a non-issue. “So we talked all night/And I just can't pretend/Although I lost old Joe/I got a new girlfriend.”

Terrorvision - “Josephine”

Another artist is singer Alison Goldfrapp details the dream world young Annabel lives in, where she can only imagine being herself when she closes her eyes. “When you dream you only dream you’re Annabel/Sleep reminds you takes you there, oh Annabel,” Goldfrapp coos, ending with “Only a boy under that.” The 2013 music video offers a literal interpretation, including a young trans girl blissfully twirling in pearls and a sequin dress.

Bad Suns - “Salt”

The pop-punk band’s 2014 single “Salt” was inspired by a friend of theirs who was struggling with their gender identity. “Stuck inside of the wrong frame/I don't feel attached to this name,” frontman Christo Bowman sings. “My body, I must reclaim/With different eyes and no shame.” The music video, a gorgeously choreographed but dark component from director Daniel Campos, starred dancer Tamara Levinson as she dealt with the traumas of depression, suicidal thoughts, and sexual assault before ultimately deciding to have gender reassignment surgery.

Jillette Johnson - “Cameron"

Another song about a young gender-non-conforming person who isn’t accepted by their family or society, “Cameron” is one of Jillette Johnson’s most beloved songs -- which might be because it’s directly inspired by a real life Cameron she knew and loved. The soulful singer repeats, over and over, that Cameron isn’t the alien the world thinks they are -- “Cameron, you're a star/A light where there is dark/And you're a hundred times a woman/A hundred times the man that they are.”

Is the UK a safe place to be Transgender in 2018?

I know from some recent Stonewall research just how bad things are, if you are trying to get on with your life as a transgender person in Britain today. 

It is known that in the last twelve months, two in five trans people have experienced a hate crime or incident. I know because I was one of the statistics of an unsolved hate crime against me, while simply doing my weekly shopping in the town where I live.

Every day in the UK, transgender people continue to be mocked, excluded, bullied and attacked, simply for existing. I have personally tried with all my heart to make a successful transition, but at the moment I have real doubts on it being successful and I am now even considering de-transitioning on the grounds of my safety. (More on that in a future blog)

Now, other countries are openly agreeing that Britain is in fact an unsafe place for transgender people. How can that be? We were leading the world at one stage on transgender recognition and rights. But the other year, a tribunal in New Zealand granted asylum to a transgender woman from Britain on the basis that her life would be in danger if she returned to the UK.

This should by all rights be considered a national embarrassment, that this is where the UK is on it’s LGBT rights and acceptance.We simply cannot continue to call ourselves a world-leader in LGBT-inclusion, nor a beacon of equality for diverse communities.

It sadly appears that many of our mainstream media from newspaper articles to general social media all seem to have gone to the Donald Trump school of non common-sense.  I think they have in fact even stepped up a gear, over recent months in their attempts to make all the vile transphobia acceptable, even questioning the right of transgender people to even exist in their world.

We must make sure that this isn't something that is ever going to be open for debate, as doing so is giving the go ahead to these messages, that has a very real and devastating real-world consequences for transgender people who just want to live their lives.

Many trans people feel unable to be themselves because of this treatment, whether at work, using public transport or even just shopping for groceries.

Its sad new to hear that the woman recently granted asylum in New Zealand told the courts that she would have to wait until late night to shop for her essentials in Britain. I know we have started to do the similar I don’t thing of going shopping until 8:30pm  or 9pm on a quiet Monday evening. The woman did this so she would be around as few people as possible, because she felt too afraid and unsafe to be herself in public, which is how, I feel nowadays in the UK.

It appears that transphobia in Britain filters down into our children in the UK schools too.We have research that shows almost half of under 18 year old transgender people have attempted suicide, yet in the schools just two in five of the teachers condemn transphobic bullying which is very sad news.

I have read that towards the end of 2017, the government is planning to have a public consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act, which if done correctly has the potential to transform the current very invasive and bureaucratic system that governs how transgender people get legal recognition of their new gender. 

As a nation we cannot allow Britain to continue to be an unsafe place for transgender people its currently a unwelcoming and frightening place for transgender people to live work or play. The situation we are in today is totally shameful and avoidable. I only hope the up coming changes to the Gender Recognition Act will be a catalyst for a total change in the publics attitude to transgender people in the UK

Fat Sick and Overweight.

I am currently changing my diet and lifestyle to a healthy one...a plant-based diet avoiding processed foods meat and dairy.

I like many watched Joe Cross in his personal mission to find a cure to an illness he had and he turned to a juice diet and plant based foods to try to cure himself. The movie is on Netflix and is called Fat Sick and Nearly Dead its worth watching and may give you the inspiration to change your diet and think about what you are eating and is it making you sick?

I know the diet I was on and my lifestyle wasn't doing me any favours, it wasn't bad as such, but unhealthy quite a lot of the time and I knew before watching Joe’s movie I needed to change,

To date I have lost over 26lbs and the weight is still reducing, like any “diet" if you revert back to old eating habits and portion size you will gain weight so I know I need to change my lifestyle as well then my new eating habits will be reinforced and my weight is more likely to stay off.

I am hoping my Ulcerated Colitis will disappear from its current state or reduce to a level that is acceptable and my M.E. reverses somewhat. A big ask I know but I do not have much choice in the matter. Any transgender person is at the mercy of the surgeon if they are Male to Female, as they use a weight to body mass index scale to see if you can have any lower surgery called the BMI.

The gatekeepers of the NHS in England are very strict and will happily leave a person waiting if their BMI is too high. I do not think transgender M2F patients really put much in to their weight loss when they first start on the pathway I know I did not. Thinking back to over two years ago, when I did initially start at the gender clinic my main thought was to get the medication I needed,  I should have addressed my diet then and that way it wouldn’t be at my foremost thoughts now.

As my next appointment at the gender clinic looms. I know the consultant will weigh me and see what kilograms the scales display, the last time he said “let’s see what the hormones have done to you”  so not wanting to hear that again, and trying to lower my BMI has been my secondary driving force to change my diet and lifestyle.

Therefore, when I read that 43 million Americans are on a diet at any given time, and the reality is that most of these people –anywhere from 65% to 98%, (depending on the research source) – will regain the weight they lose within 12 months of losing it and that worries me. So a total change from 2017 onwards is required of me, at diet and lifestyle change and one that I can live with.

The UK’s BBQ season is under way so I have to think of dishes that can be cooked outside on the BBQ, that fulfil my diet of plant based foods. The medium done double steak burger with cheese and bacon will not be made as they smell just too good and be swapped for a bean burger of some kind, and roasted vegetables with sweet potato fries.

I know I will have slip up and “fall off the wagon” as most people do, even Joe Cross found it is difficult to keep his weight off all the time, and you know that’s okay. I know I will have bad days and good days. Getting back on the wagon is just a part of the weight loss and lifestyle change I need to make.

I used Joe’s movie as the extra motivation and inspiration to change what I was eating and what I did, it’s a guide not a rule and like anything in life if it’s worth doing you might as well do it well. I have always tried to live my life according to a few basic rules or principals most of which comes from my parents including being honest with yourself and others, as it normally comes back to you in the end… so it saves a lot of heart ache and time if you upfront as my dear father would say…

Being Transgender is not easy and staying positive while you wait for Gender clinic appointments and surgery is not easy, in fact it's really hard at times.  Having personal goals you wish to achieve is the way to proceed in my view every step I take brings me closer to my goals and wishes. I'm lucky in that I have a close family bond, good friends and work mates who help and support me. I know some don't have this back up and I'm grateful for everyone's support.