‘The writing was on the wall’: The gender diverse people fleeing the UK

Fifteen years ago, Jane* and her partner bought a hilltop house in the country. 

Over the years, she became a valued member of the community and served as a local councillor. In her spare time, she worked on the house, gradually turning it into her dream home.

“I had intended to spend the rest of my days here,” she says.

So when this 63-year-old retiree told her fellow councillors she was leaving her life in the UK for Ireland, she says they were “horrified” at how quickly her situation had changed.

Jane is intersex, and following the Supreme Court ruling in April on the definition of a woman, she began avoiding public spaces and was forced to close her small business due to stress. By June, Jane and her partner had travelled to Ireland to start looking for somewhere to live, joining a growing number of trans, non-binary and intersex people leaving the UK.

Ireland is a particularly popular destination because British citizens can live and work there freely. Trans Healthcare Action Ireland confirmed that LGBTQ+ groups in the country have noticed an increase in trans people looking to move there from the UK and US.

“When I walked into the National Gallery in Dublin I just broke down crying,” Jane says, overcome by the freedom to go into a public space without the constant fear of harassment and abuse which she suffers back home in the UK.

While some gender diverse people still feel safe in the UK, or have chosen to stay and fight, this climate of fear has become too much for others to bear. Ten years after topping ILGA-Europe’s ranking for LGBTQ+ rights, the UK has plummeted to 22nd place out of the 49 countries listed. And the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has issued a red flag alert on UK trans and intersex rights.

Within weeks of the Supreme Court judgment, Dutch NGO Trans Rescue said it had seen a 40-fold increase in British trans people seeking to escape the country. According to the Trans Rescue founder Anne Ogborn, this surge has now passed. The group would not encourage any trans Brits to seek asylum anywhere, she says, but “we are encouraging British trans people to leave the UK”.

Jane’s birth certificate is marked male, but she has male and female sex characteristics. She is terrified that if the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) controversial guidance becomes law she will have to use male or mixed spaces. Jane says she “could not cope” with sharing spaces with men, particularly due to past traumas. In 2017, she was raped by two male colleagues.

She has found some solace in the Trans Exile Network, a private online group of around 200 people, mostly trans women, who have left or are planning to leave the UK. According to its founder, Victoria McCloud, this number climbs to around 300 when family members are included.

A former judge who is challenging the Supreme Court ruling at the European Court of Human Rights, Victoria says that it was inevitable people would be forced to leave the UK. After watching anti-trans rhetoric in the media and politics build for nearly a decade, when the Labour Party’s stance on trans rights worsened pre-election, she says “the writing was on the wall”.

Victoria resigned in April 2024 and moved to Ireland, and set up Trans Exile Network earlier this year. The network is a mutual support group and space for people to exchange ideas and practical advice. Victoria says their briefing document for Ireland covers questions such as “What do you do on day one? How do you orient yourself? What happens with healthcare? How do you transfer benefits?”

There are also tips on cultural nuances: “It is totally normal to call a mixed or female group ‘lads’. It has long lost any gender connotation. Take note if trans, and don’t get paranoid ladies!!”

Trans Exile Network also has subgroups for countries including Portugal, New Zealand and Germany, as well as groups for parents of trans kids and groups for people working in similar industries – for example tech.

Victoria acknowledges that only people with some degree of privilege can even consider leaving the UK.

“There are plenty of people who are unable to get out for lack of money,” she says, adding that some members are discussing pooling their resources and buying land or dilapidated houses together, while others are making plans to move into caravans or even tents. 

Moving also comes with additional challenges for people who are neurodivergent or autistic, characteristics which are more common in trans populations.

Eva*, a 37-year-old trans woman and lab analyst, is also moving to Ireland, but says her autism, anxiety and depression add an additional layer of complexity. Most people in her life don’t know she is trans, so when we speak via video call during a work break she’s constantly on the lookout, and occasionally falls silent.

Eva says she “worries about leaving and starting life in a new country” because her neurodiversity makes face to face conversations more difficult and has already forced her to change jobs. But she’s determined to make the leap across the Irish Sea.

Even if Good Law Project’s challenge to the EHRC guidance is successful, Eva says she would still leave because of the “culture of hate and push for exclusion” of trans people in the UK. She has spent time in hospital with kidney infections, and is scared about being put on a male ward if she needs to be admitted again. She’s worried that her GP won’t keep prescribing the hormone treatment she has already “had to fight to keep”. And she fears the impact of the impending Levy review into trans adult healthcare.

Eva has already applied for an Irish passport through family, arranged to stay in a shared house with a friend who has already fled, and started selling off treasured possessions.

After years of “watching people saying nasty stuff on Twitter… and media institutions telling lies” Eva just wants to completely forget it all exists. 

“I just want to close my mind to it,” she says. “I want a peaceful life.”

*Some names in this story have been changed due to the safety concerns of those interviewed.