Transgender and non-binary people share their hopes for 2020. (Supplied/Instagram)
Last year was a tumultuous time of highs and lows for trans and non-binary people.
Sam Smith came out as non-binary and threw non-binary issues into the mainstream, trans representation on our screens increased and a record number of trans people tried (and failed) to represent us in UK politics.
However, promised reform of gender recognition laws kept being delayed, anti-trans hate crimes rocketed and Piers Morgan continued to exist.
But 2020 is a brand-new year, so PinkNews asked trans activists and icons what their hopes are for the year ahead…
“I hope to see more community solidarity at all levels. It’s a new decade and a new opportunity to lift up the most marginalised voices of the LGBT+ community who are yet to share their stories and experiences.”
– Munroe Bergdorf (she/they), model, activist and queer icon
“Honesty and kindness: That we all work to see honestly and clearly the legacies we’re passing down the generations in our treatment of the planet and anyone we regard as ‘other’, and that we cultivate kinder relationships with ourselves, each other, and the world as a consequence.”
– Dr Meg-John Barker (they/them), author and academic writing about gender, sex and relationships
“My biggest hope for 2020 is that we stop fighting among each other within the LGBTQ community and work together against the larger injustices in our society. I would like to see trans people celebrated, loved and fully welcomed in the queer community.”
– Emma Frankland (she/her), award-winning theatre maker and performer
“My hope for 2020 is to have barrier-free healthcare for all trans people, to stop having to fight so hard to get what we need.”
– Felix (he/him), from Open Barbers
“My hope for 2020 is the end of the culture wars. 2019 felt defined by social groups trying to define themselves against others; I think, in such divided times, we need to find the things that bring us together.
“I’m going to strive to talk to more people who have different beliefs and ideas from the ones that I hold, and to strike up conversations with strangers – I do think building empathy and understanding with people from different groups might help clear the toxicity of the current climate.”
– Amrou Al-Kadhi (they/them), drag performer and author of Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen
“Free healthcare for everyone and high heels in bigger sizes.”
– La JohnJoseph (they/them), artist
“In 2020, I aim to build the world’s biggest intersex collection for the Museum of Transology (when we move to our permanent home at the Bishopsgate Institute), with the ambition of writing the ‘I’ back into LGBTQ history.”
– E-J Scott (he/him), curator and queer cultural producer
“My biggest hope for 2020 is seeing less debate around trans people’s bodies, lives and rights.”
– Jake Edwards (he/they), aka YouTuber JakeFTMagic
“I hope that the penny finally drops that we’ve been treating people so differently depending on the gender that we perceive them to be. So stark is the difference that it can inform or destroy someone’s self-esteem. That is the power and danger of the binary system and it perpetuates itself.
“I’d like to see people begin to really embrace true equality by treating and accepting each person as an individual, wherever they sit on the gender spectrum.”
– Adam All (he/him), drag king and founder of London drag-king cabaret night Boi Box
“My hope for 2020 is a video game, preferably an RPG [role player game], with a non-white, non-binary protagonist.”
– Marikiscrycrycry (they/them), aka Malik Nashad Sharpe, choreographer and dancer
“My biggest hope for 2020 is for the UK to legally recognise non-binary gender and a reform of the Gender Recognition Act.”
– Jules Guaitamacchi (they/them), trans activist and LGBT+ awareness trainer
“My biggest hope for 2020 is that there will be less fear and more spaces will be queer.”
– Melody Sproates (they/them), cabaret maker, touring their show *Gender Not Included at VAULT Festival and Camden People’s Theatre in 2020
“I hope the apocalypse will be gentle.”
– Sea Sharp (they/them), award-winning author, performer and theatre-maker