We have a new product available as of today: Embrace, a bar of soap made in the style of the Transgender flag to celebrate members of the community and show our support. 50p of each Embrace bar that is purchased will be donated to the Gender Identity Research & Education Society (GIRES).
GIRES is a UK wide organisation whose purpose is to improve the lives of transgender and gender non-conforming people of all ages, including those who are non-binary using research. They collaborate with other organisations and helps, hears, empowers and gives a voice to all trans and gender non-conforming individuals and non-binary and non-gendered people as well as their friends and family. They use personal experiences above all else and combine it with scientific research into gender identity development. This helps to generally improve the lives and the wellbeing of all individuals and the healthcare they receive by educating the general population. This means improvements to equality and human rights for trans people, especially in healthcare which at the moment trans and non-binary individuals often have to fight for. No one should have to fight to embrace who they are, especially in this day and age.
Why is this important?
Two in five trans people (41 per cent) said that healthcare staff lacked understanding of specific trans health needs when accessing general healthcare services in the last year.
Three in five trans people (62 per cent) who have undergone, or are currently undergoing, medical transition or other treatment are unsatisfied with the time it took to get an appointment.
More than one in ten trans people (11 per cent) have gone abroad for medical treatment to alter their physical appearance, including buying hormones over the internet from other countries, with many citing the barriers they currently face in accessing medical treatment in the UK.
Seven per cent of trans people said they have been refused care because they are LGBT, while trying to access healthcare services in the last year.
We have learnt so much in the past decade, however, healthcare and treatments is often a very long process, with most trans people waiting 18-24 months even just for an initial appointment let alone their tmedical transition or other treatments.
Two in five trans people (41 per cent) and three in ten non-binary people (31 per cent) have experienced a hate crime or incident because of their gender identity in the last 12 months.
Two in five trans people (40 per cent) adjust the way they dress because they fear discrimination or harassment. This number increases significantly to half of non-binary people (52 per cent).
A third of trans people (34 per cent) have been discriminated against because of their gender identity when visiting a café, restaurant, bar or nightclub in the last year.
More than one in four (27 per cent) trans young people have attempted to commit suicide and nine in ten (89 per cent) have thought about it. 72 per cent have self-harmed at least once.
This is why GIRES is so important. They work tirelessly to improve the stigma around transgender and non-binary individuals, educating the community as a whole to decrease the amount of prejudice they experience on a daily basis and to improve the healthcare services that are available will hopefully mean that it will save lives.
For more information on the charity, please see here.
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