MEET TRANS ACTION WEST CUMBRIA

“Right now Trans people need an energy of protest and resistance as well as celebration and community”

Please could you introduce yourself / yourselves and share any information about how you identify?

We are ER (they/them) and Matt (he/him), and we are Trans people living in West Cumbria who are deeply passionate about serving our community and creating a space where we can thrive.

Can you tell us a bit about Trans Action West Cumbria? How did the idea come about and what are your aims?

Trans Action West Cumbria (TAWC) exists to take action. We live in a climate approaching open and increasing hostility towards Trans and Gender Diverse people in the UK. The recent Supreme Court decision was just the tip of the iceberg, but we have faced years now of our community facing misunderstanding, lack of access to vital services, a healthcare system not built for us, and transphobes feeling increasingly emboldened in their efforts to erase us from society. TAWC exists to provide support to the Trans community, and to ensure that said support doesn’t depend just on Geography. In more rural communities and outside of Cities, Trans people often face isolation, systemic barriers, and a lack of gender-affirming resources. We’re here to change that.

We intend to provide peer mentoring, social groups, advocacy, and essential resources like gender-affirming clothing and other products, support with legal documentation, and more. Our work goes beyond support—we want to actively challenge misconceptions through education and outreach, ensuring local businesses, schools, and public services truly understand trans perspectives.

We have lots of fun ideas too! At some point we want to do open mic nights, board game meetups, queer ceilidhs – but all a ways off yet – starting small!

What would you say are the biggest challenges for Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people in west Cumbria?

Primarily, it’s a lack of access. There are great LGBTQ+ and indeed Trans-specific projects in more populated parts of Cumbria like Carlisle (the wonderful outREACH Cumbria, LGBThq, and the Trans Social group now started by Queer Cumbria!) but as you go further out, resources and areas for Trans people drop off the map. LGBTQ+ projects exist, but for Trans people specifically there is currently little to nothing. Rural life can often times be challenging for many people, but for Trans people the lack of safe spaces where they know they can be themselves and be around people like them can be incredibly isolating.

Matt: I grew up in a similarly rural area – it was difficult being seen as different/GNC before even knowing I was trans, as a young person travelling to the only support group took a long time on public transport and felt like I had to hide where I was going/who I was going with from family. Things different now from then – but similar issues remain – low visibility/understanding/empathy of/with trans people and resources concentrated in towns and cities, with nothing in smaller towns/villages.

We are just getting started but it has been mixed thus far. The reaction from LGBTQ+ and Youth organisations has been nothing short of phenomenal, and we’ve built great connections in Cumbria and beyond who have helped us figure out how to organise and run ourselves properly, and started to build awareness of our existence. Queer Cumbria and the Whitehaven Harbour Youth Project specifically have been brilliant in offering collaborations, giving us opportunities to shout about what we’re up to, and trying to sort us out safe spaces for our community to meet. It has been outside of the community though that we’ve found challenge, especially when inquiring about funding options and facing pushback from funders that they’re “doing a lot for LGBTQ+ people already” without recognising that most of that funding and support is a) not in rural Cumbria and b) not going to support Trans people specifically. That’s frustrating, but it’s not going to stop us doing what we need to do.

What are your hopes and dreams for TAWC?

We have a few ambitions when it comes to our services. In addition to providing a Social Group and organising meetups for Trans and gender-diverse people to get to know each other, we are trying to establish an active support presence too. We’re starting a Peer Support Group, facilitated by and for Trans people, to provide help and guidance to each other; we’re also going to start offering Legal and Healthcare Advocacy, to help people access the care they need and provide assistance with workplace rights and name & gender marker changes. Finally, we’d like to provide regular Clothes Swaps, low-cost gender-affirming haircuts, and more to give people throughout West Cumbria an opportunity to be more themselves.

Our ultimate dreams for TAWC are to help people, and we’d personally be happy and fulfilled if we helped even one other Trans person meet someone new, gave one Non-Binary kid their first binder, or ensured one gender non-conforming person at work got access to the bathroom they need without question.

What would a Trans Pride look like to you and what would you like to see change when it comes to Pride events generally?

Giving Cumbria it’s very own Trans Pride at some point in the future would be amazing. Whilst Pride events generally can be great spaces for people to build community and express themselves, many Prides are often increasingly corporate funded and run much like businesses. In these spaces where you have to keep the company funders happy and turn a profit, people not only can get priced out of Pride, but more “controversial issues”, which now seemingly includes the right of Trans people to exist and live freely, can often get left to the side. Many people forget that Pride at its roots is a protest, and right now Trans people need an energy of protest and resistance as well as celebration and community, to ensure we get our voices heard and push for changes to the law to protect our lives and freedoms. We hope Trans Pride Cumbria can someday exist and fulfil that mission.

“We believe Prides – especially those who have lost tonnes of Corporate funding now that it’s no longer acceptable politically to be pro Queer and Trans rights – should reflect and realise that companies and acceptable society have never been our friends.”

Pride events have struggled this year to gain support from funders and some LGBTQ+ people are eager for a new approach to the events, do you have any thoughts on that?

This builds on the Corporate Pride comment from before, but I think a lot of LGBTQ+ people want pride to feel more like the community coming together and both celebrating our existence as well as protesting inequity, than what it feels like sometimes in a lot of prides: a booze-fest where the encouragement is to spend money and show the “acceptable side” of Pride. This isn’t just a problem for Trans people as I mentioned before, but also kids and young people where alcohol-driven prides do not meet their needs, or poorer LGBTQ+ people who cannot afford high ticket prices and venue entry fees. When we create exclusionary Prides, we are no longer representative of our community, nor fulfilling the purpose of Pride as it was meant to be.

We believe Prides – especially those who have lost tonnes of Corporate funding now that it’s no longer acceptable politically to be pro Queer and Trans rights – should reflect and realise that companies and acceptable society have never been our friends, and go back to the roots of our movement: Community, Protest, Empowerment, Belonging, and Freedom.

We also think there are great learnings to be held from smaller prides, which have always felt cosier in a way – more community, people looking out for each other, stalls/local community groups that actually want to be there. Like Kendal Pride’s approach of lots of different activities – like walking, swimming, events and more variety.

What 3 things make you proud to be a Queer Cumbrian?

Resilience, Resourcefulness, and Joy hold us together.

How can people help or get involved with TAWC?

We’re currently on an active hunt for Volunteers to help us organise and run our events. You can be involved as much or as little as you want, and we are looking for a wide variety of skills and experiences to make sure we really represent our Community. Whether your thing is event planning or hosting, Advocacy and Advice, Gender-affirming Hairdressing, Fundraising, Social Media, Governance and Finance, Crafting, or anything really – fill out the volunteering form on our website and we’d love to have you. But you don’t need to volunteer to make a difference – just showing up and participating in one of our events already makes the world of difference by simply showing other Trans people that they have a community, that they belong. Whether it’s swapping some of your old clothes or binders to help someone just starting out, or attending a peer support group and sharing your story, or coming to a board game night and showcasing your skills – everything is important. Our upcoming events will be live on our website and whether it’s as a volunteer or an attendee, we can’t wait to see you there.

his is the Do It Yourself issue, what does the term mean to you?

Do It Yourself resonates really strongly with us right now, and we’re very much living that ethos with TAWC. We have been frustrated for a while with the lack of services, support, and social outlets for people like us in West Cumbria. We’ve heard this same frustration from friends and colleagues of ours too, and all of us have wished it was different. We all wished for a community and indeed a society filled not with misunderstanding, lack of access, and in some extremes hatred: but filled instead with belonging, empowerment, and Trans Joy. We finally got to the point of realisation that, to make that wish come true we can’t wait for it to magically occur: we have to Do It Ourselves and make it happen. That’s why we founded TAWC, and that’s what is keeping us and our growing community going as we start to really try and make a difference here.

Any contact / socials you want to share

Our website is www.transactioncumbria.co.uk, and we can be reached by email on info@transactioncumbria.co.uk.

Cover photograph by Stephen Benson – (@daglief)