Journal #16: UK trans ruling; The Shape of Water; website stuff
UK court ruling
Disclaimer: I don't know jack shit about UK politics, nor am I trying to fearmonger or catastrophize, these are just thoughts I need to get out of my head lol. Skip if you don't wanna hear me vent.
Being an American trans man in the UK at the time of this landmark supreme court decision is certainly...interesting. This was the sort of stuff I was trying to get away from, but I guess it just goes to show how widespread the assault is on our basic human rights.
Of course there's no clear indication how any of this will play out. I'm not sure what it will mean for me once I move here.
All of my documents save for my birth certificate are male, and in Illinois I just have to send off some paperwork to fix that.1 As I was looking this up, it struck me how jarring it is to come from the US and see trans discourse in the UK.
Obviously things in the US aren't great. The vitriol and bigotry is much more pronounced, especially if you live in red states. But, for fuck's sake. All of that is mirrored by large contingents of liberals and leftists who are very vocally pro-trans. Hell, we've even got a trans woman in the federal legislature, plus more trans people in state and local politics. The governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, has time and time again spoken up in defense of trans rights and access to healthcare here in IL.
Compare all that with the UK government. This court decision was unanimous; both the Labour and Tory parties are unsympathetic; and there's all sorts of horror stories with the NHS, etc.
I'm still going to move here. I just need to be with my wife, and I don't feel like waiting another three years whilst held hostage at the whims of the Trump administration during the visa application process. It's quicker and easier for me to move to the UK, so I'm going to do it. But, goddamn. It doesn't feel much like a "better" option anymore. Maybe just a more efficient one.
I got my US passport several years ago. It says M. That passport is now technically illegal in the US. Now that I might be considered woman, given that the legal definition is "someone who was female at birth", it might just be illegal in the UK, too.
The tricky part is there's no real telling right now how this will play out logistically for trans people. I don't know what it will mean for me, someone who started transitioning elsewhere. Will the UK recognize my legal status as a male in the US?2 Or am I going to end up applying for citizenship as a female?
The UK has Gender Recognition Certificates that basically allow people to change their gender markers on different documents and allows you to marry someone as a man/woman, etc. There's no telling how this new ruling will affect this. If it makes GRCs null and void, what about my own documentation?
If nothing else, I came up with a good joke: the UK government made me a he/him lesbian.
The Shape of Water and my UK trip so far
My time here in the UK has been pleasant, existentially depressing politics notwithstanding. I never realized how stressed and tense I was back home until I got here and could properly relax. No school, no family, no nothing. Just free time with my wife. I've been writing a lot and really creatively motivated.
Tonight we watch The Shape of Water. My wife's been wanting to show it to me for ages and ages. I thought it was really beautiful! Something I'd definitely need to watch again. It was so whimsical, yet very mature in its whimsy. Like a fairytale story for adults. I've not seen any of Guillermo del Toro's work before, but based off of this I think I'd like it!
Tomorrow we are going to have an early Easter dinner with Jem's family. I'm sort of nervous, but only because it's been so long since I've seen everyone. It helps that they are English and therefore socially awkward like me, haha. I couldn't imagine having to face my family of extroverts (of which, I am an outlier).
I've also been having a LOT of yummy snacks and teas! There's so much more vegan options here and my wife is an amazing cook; thank God we have to walk here, I need it!
Website stuff
I've also been doing work on my website here and there. I've finally settled on the basic format of the homepage, added an index on the root domain, and even made a container with my entire blog, so that you don't have to actually leave my site to view my posts. I also made a new guestbook through atabook.org; unsure whether I'll also link it here or keep my existing guestbook.
I'm hoping to do more webdev stuff over the weekend! My goals right now are to revamp my about page and make an 88x31 button to advertise my site!
I've also been finding a lot of fun websites that I'll eventually make a list of. They're all so creative and funny and personal. It's been really really neat seeing all these handmade sites with so much personality.
Hope everyone is doing alright!
Take care <3
✘ Posted on — 04/18/25
✘ Last modified — 4 months ago
✘ Link — https://blog.xavierhm.com/journal-16-uk-trans-ruling-the-shape-of-water-website-stuff
Footnotes
Or at least in Illinois, and pretty much every piece of identification besides my passport, which is only currently modified by an executive order that will be immediately revoked once another Dem enters office. This whole ordeal has made me much more appreciative of federalism and state rights, tbh.↩