Queercircle

YOUNG PEOPLE's TRANSIFESTO
'Do not patronise trans young people. For anyone older, or who is occupying a position of power, do not assume that you have more knowledge about our lives and experience'

- Stella (they/he)

This research aimed to find out from trans and gender non-conforming young people how they want to be supported, as experts of their own lives. Youth worker and researcher, Lu Wilson, spoke to a range of trans young people across a range of social, cultural and educational contexts.

Lu then collaborated with two gender non-conforming young people to facilitate a creative research workshop with an LGBTQ+ youth group to produce nine talking points in a text that they dubbed a ‘Transifesto’. (We use the word trans as an umbrella term to include trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming young people.) Check out their insights and demands below, illustrated by their own drawings.

This work provides starting points and opportunities for ongoing dialogue, making space for the voices of young people to articulate how best their needs might be met - involving a wider ecology of London-wide LGBTQ+ partners, health and youth professionals.
Smizz, Stella, Miggy, Lu and Talia at the Transifesto sharing event.

‘It was amazing to come to the Transifesto event today! Very moved by the young people’s compassion, resilience and sense of justice’ - Health Worker attendee

The Transifesto was discussed with wider participants at a sharing event that took place at QUEERCIRCLE in October 2024. Young people led conversations around their needs with youth workers, doctors and teachers, as well as other LGBTQ+ young people. Live drawings of this event were created by graphic artist, Sarah Smizz, whose sketches of the day you can see below.

Young people amplified points made in the Transifesto and asserted their right to access ‘spaces of support and acceptance’ that can ‘support growth’. They spoke about the ‘indignity of being treated differently’ and how hard it was to see into the future without being aware of elder trans people: ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’. They wanted to move away from the idea of trans people being vulnerable because ‘we are powerful when we are ourselves’.
- TRANSIFESTO
- VISUAL NOTES
QUEERCIRCLE and Lu Wilson would like to thank all the young people and youth work practitioners she spoke to as part of undertaking her research, for their ideas, insight and thoughts. Namely, Nemo (them/them), a trans young person who attends groups at QUEERCIRCLE; Stella (they/he), a trans young person from The Museum of Transology; Young people at Step Out, an LGBTQ+ Youth Group part of Step Forward in Tower Hamlets; Ruby Smith (they/them), a trans young person and facilitator at Step Forward; Charlene Frost (she/her), Catford Pride and Metro; Fred Lanka (they/he), Co-Director of Queer Youth Art Collective.
LU WILSON

Lu (they/them) is an LGBTQ+ Mental Health Youth Worker, facilitator and researcher whose anthropological work focuses on queer storytelling and queering traditional power dynamics between researcher and research ‘subjects’ to decolonise research. They facilitate one-to-one and group sessions using a youth-led, creative and intersectional approach on themes including gender, sexuality, relationships, mental health and identity.
RESOURCES