Escape 
November is Transgender Awareness Month, focussing on issues affecting the transgendered community. Transgender Awareness Week took place between 12-18th November, followed by the Transgender Day of Remembrance on the 20th November. This month, we’d like to take some time to focus on how we can all be better allies and help support and stand up for transgender people.
Some suggestions on how you can become a better ally:
- Realise that someone who is trans may not necessarily want to talk about who they used to be, as they may not have felt their authentic selves at the time. Instead it’s better to focus on who they are now. This means using their chosen name, and not the name they were given at birth, as well as using the correct pronouns.
- Don’t assume that everyone knows that someone is trans. A transgendered person may not necessarily want everyone to know, and should be allowed to choose if and when they want others to know. This could be as harmful as outing someone who is queer but hasn’t chosen to come out to everyone yet.
- Being trans doesn’t mean someone is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or straight. Transgender refers to gender identity, and not sexual orientation, and so it is better not to make assumptions.
- Being trans can mean different things to different people. Some people who identify as trans may be at a different points of their journey to transition into their authentic selves. Some may have only just started questioning and need time to understand who they are, while others may have chosen to undergo surgery to give them the appearance of the gender they identify with. Some transgendered people may be content to keep their outward appearance the same, but identify as a certain gender.
- Learn about the policies currently affecting the transgendered community. There have been so many changes over the past decade, and understanding the current issues can pave the way forward and change things for the better.
For more useful guidance, visit https://glaad.org/transgender/allies and https://transequality.org which have some great tips on how to be an ally.