It’s been too long since I’ve blogged so due to some scary and exciting future life changes I’ve decided that it’s best to get writing again.
It’s been a difficult few years in the UK and things have been slowing getting worse here. The main stream media has become more hostile to trans people and we have a TERF for an equalities minister. The community is fighting back though and hopefully things will get better eventually. So hopefully one day the UK might be a better place for trans people.
We have decided though that this is not a country we wish to live in anymore when we could be happier elsewhere. I suspect one of the things that has really changed is me and my awareness of how England feels rotten to the core and although the younger generations here give me hope it’s not somewhere I feel comfortable anymore.
On a lighter note we are currently exploring a couple of options with help from the people over at https://twitter.com/TransEmigrate, Ireland and Germany.
Germany
Germany was our original plan before the coronavirus hit the world. We had been trying to rush preperations so we could leave before we would need to get visa’s to move there (1st January 2021).
We know a little more about Germany as I’ve been posted there for work and we have been on holiday in the Berlin and Cologne area. There are lots that sound good about Germany and a few things that are a little scary for our situation and we need to research to see what the situation is especially when it comes to things like gender recognition as we have both changed our names and gender on our passports but not birth certificates.
Ireland
Ireland is something we hadn’t thought about till recently. They have self-ID so that is a massive plus for us as we could both change our legal gender easily. This is a massive plus for me as changing birth certificates is costly and bauracratic here. In the UK it may also not be possible for me to change without starting the process again (probably privately) as I believe the people who signed off my transition are no longer practicing. The only downside with Ireland will be living in a smaller country and we already find it difficult to live in rural Cambridgeshire.
Further information
I’m creating a page which will be updated as I discover more here