TRANS LIFE SATISFACTION REPORT

Impact of Being Trans

Taken from the Trans Mental Health and Well being in Ireland Report by Jay McNeil, Louis Bailey, Sonja Ellis & Maeve Regan Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI)

Trans Life Satisfaction Report

Twenty-seven percent of participants felt that being trans had a negative impact on their lives, whilst only 12% felt it to be positive. The majority, 55%, stated that being trans had a mixed positive and negative impact upon their life satisfaction. A small minority (3%) believed that being trans had no impact on their life satisfaction, and 4% were unsure

Thus, over 90% believed that being trans or having a trans history had an impact on their life satisfaction. When compared to the UK participants, being trans seemed to have a more negative impact on life satisfaction for the Irish participants. The following comments demonstrate how being trans can have such varied effects on people’s lives

Positive Impact

"I think it’s given me a perspective in life that is different from most people. I like to think that this can be a positive thing”.

“My trans experience has taught me to see life much more positively and find satisfaction in the small everyday things”

“It took a while for me to become comfortable with the fact I was trans, but now I embrace it as a part of me as a person”.

Negative Impact

"I do not regret my transition, but it created [a] whole new set of problems for me that has cost me 3 jobs, a marriage and now my current relationship”.

"I find it difficult to be my true gender because of society’s lack of acceptance of trans people”.

Mixed Experience

"Sometimes it feels like a blessing, sometimes a curse – I appreciate that it gives me a broader perspective on life... but on a personal level it can be a burden”.

"I love being trans, I just hate that people judge me badly for it”

Coming out

For the majority of participants (65%), coming out to others as trans led to an improvement in life satisfaction. Only 6% were less satisfied as a result of telling others that they were trans. These findings suggest that being supported to talk to others and be honest about their identities could enable the majority of trans people or those with a trans history to feel more satisfied with their daily lives.

Transition

In addition to simply telling others that they were trans, many participants felt that undergoing some form of transition had improved their life satisfaction. Of the 81 participants for whom transitioning was applicable, 84% were more satisfied with their lives post-transition. Only 5% were less satisfied, with some experiencing no change or being unsure as to the impact of transition (6% and 5% respectively) 

Life Satisfaction After Transition

 

  

General Satisfaction

When asked about their general satisfaction levels, participants were satisfied with their lives (42%) 

As a more objective and standardised measure, the Diener Life Satisfaction Scale was incorporated into the survey. Higher scores represent greater life satisfaction. For the 148 participants who completed this scale, there was a tendency for greater levels of dissatisfaction with life than satisfaction.

DAWN'S STORY

Most of the time Dawn lives as a man using a male name. However, she considers herself to be transgender.

Dawn, who works as an occupational health nurse on an oil platform, describes growing up as a boy who liked to dress in girls' clothes. She hid that part of her identity when she was in the Air Force, but in recent years she's become more open about her feminine side.

"As far back as infant school I remember playing with dolls and dressing in my sister's clothes. I also remember feeling upset that girls wore skirts and boys didn't.

"When I was about 10 or 11, I used to escape through the bedroom window at night and walk around town in girls' clothes. Once, I got caught by the police and taken home. My mother then took me to see a psychologist.

"I think we saw the psychologist two or three times. At one stage, he asked me: 'Do you want to be a girl?' My parents were sitting with me, so I gave an answer they wanted to hear rather than the truthful answer. Looking back, I think if they hadn't been there, things might have been different.
"After that, I kept that side of me hidden even more because it upset my parents. I kept myself as busy as possible at home, but the feelings never went away.

"I chose the name Dawn when I was about 12 years old. I wanted to be 'me', and my given male name didn't have a female version. I thought for a long time before settling on Dawn.
"Dawn has many meanings: the start of a new day, or a realisation. But I chose it mainly because I like the name, and the few people I knew who were called Dawn seemed like nice people.
"I lived in a small town in Wiltshire with few job prospects, so when I was 16 I joined the Air Force. I became an aircraft mechanic for a short time before switching to nursing. That's what I've done ever since.

"Back then, being trans in the Air Force was a big problem, so I kept it hidden. I found out about trans groups through other people and from newspaper articles. In the 1970s and 1980s there wasn't much publicity, so you heard about it from agony aunts such as Clare Rayner and Marje Proops.
"While I was still in the Air Force, I visited trans groups in Bristol and London. It was an opportunity to meet like-minded people and to realise that I wasn't alone."

Meeting my partner, Jules

"In 1985 I moved to London and left the Air Force. It was the first time I'd lived completely on my own. As I was away from family and friends, I seriously considered transitioning [living full-time as a woman]. For nearly one year I dressed as a woman except when I was at work.

"Then I met Jules, my partner, an absolutely wonderful woman. I decided that my priority was to stay with her rather than transition.

"Shortly after we started going out together, we moved to the coast. Cornwall, our new home, was very different from London, and I hid my trans side initially.

"Only in recent years have we started being more open. I dress in women's clothes maybe once or twice a week when I'm at home, and when Jules and I go to National Trust places, to the cinema or for dinner. But we generally do it away from our home town so that people who know us won't see us.

"My two sisters know that I'm trans. My parents don't know, or if they do know they haven't said anything about it. Jules' parents know. She told them when we first started dating, and I've been out with them dressed in women's clothes.

"We try to tell people only if they need to know, but I don't like hiding it. l'd like everyone to know and not worry about it, but Jules would rather keep it a bit quieter."

Being found out at work

"Recently I was found out at work. I'm a nurse on an oil platform, and I was moving to another platform. Somebody emptied my locker for me and sent the contents to the next platform. People on my new platform also saw photographs of me on the internet.

"It was quite upsetting when I got a phone call warning me to be careful at work because all this information was out.

"I was expecting ridicule, abuse and possibly discrimination from the management team, but it was the total opposite. The management team supported me 100%, and the people who made a big fuss about it were taken off the platform.

"Being accepted at work was a humbling experience. My work colleagues' support and relaxed attitude has made me feel valued and wanted.

"I don't tell people that I'm trans. It doesn't come up in conversation, and it's not important to my work, but I don't have to keep it a secret any more. 

"Being a transgender person isn't easy, although I've had an easier time than most people. I've had a lot of frustration. I've had to keep my feminine side secret, and I try to conform to what society expects. But now that I'm older, I feel more confident about my gender identity.

"I like to think that having a strong feminine side has helped me to help other people, which is good for my nursing. It possibly gives me a more caring nature. But as I've always been trans, I have nothing to compare it against.

"I know that if I were given the option, I wouldn't like to lose the feminine side of my life. I wouldn't be me." 

LUNA'S STORY

Luna, who is 18, is an only child. Her mother is a single parent. They lived in Poland until Luna was 10. 

“From my earliest memory, I didn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed wear girl’s clothes. I always wanted to, and I made it very clear to my mum that I wanted to. She was gentle with me, and she didn’t get cross, but I never understood why she wouldn’t let me.”

Until she was seven or eight she told her friends that she wanted to be a girl. It was a time when boys and girls played together at school, and she always played a female in make-believe games. “I expressed myself and I made it clear. I didn’t, at the time, understand the notion of someone not being accepted because of their gender or who they liked. Speaking it now, I understand that I wanted to be heard.”

But she stopped saying it when she realised how socially unacceptable it was. The bullying began when she started fifth class in Ireland, with barely a word of English. 

“I never looked masculine. I had soft features and long hair and was very often mistaken for a girl. I tried to blame my difference on the fact that I was gay, so I came out. I was so feminine and everyone knew, so I didn’t have to confirm it.”

Living in New Ross, Co Wexford, there were few sources of support. Luna is particularly feminine, and her true gender was breaking through. “It happened gradually and subconsciously. Puberty wasn’t too harsh on me, and my body was androgynous all along, so I didn’t fully realise. I knew the hardship and consequences of social transition. 

“But it eventually reached a point where I knew I had to transition. I started make-up at 15. By 16 I refused to shop in the male section any more. Then I felt I needed to go on hormones, and that is when I finally understood that I am a woman.”

In sixth year Luna spoke to a school counsellor. She was already wearing feminine clothes and had long hair. Luna says that, although the school was supportive, name and pronoun changes would have been awkward. 

She was prepared to wait five months – until the end of school – to fully transition socially. There was a lot of staring, isolation and distance from other students.

Her mother didn’t really understand at first, but she has become a huge support, and the two women have grown closer.

Luna is now a first-year student at Dublin City University, studying international relations. She’s charismatic, extremely mature and intelligent, and, by her own admission, a little intense.

Luna was, initially, the only young trans person willing to be identified and photographed for this series. A week after being interviewed, Daniel approached us with a willingness to be photographed, saying that, although he understands why trans people are often unwilling to go public, he is now ready to put himself forward.

Luna says that she wants to change society. “I know that there will be people who mock me and who are oblivious to what I say, but, for all that, there will be at least one person who will find me helpful. It’s that one person who I want to help.”

GENDER RECOGNITION

How To Apply For a Gender Recognition Certificate

Complete the GRC1 application form.   The form includes a Statutory Declaration which must be witnessed by one of the following: Peace Commissioner/Notary Public/Commissioner for Oaths/Solicitor.
Attach the relevant required documents

• Birth Certificate or Adoption Certificate
• Proof of residency in Ireland, if you were not born in Ireland
• If you have had your preferred gender recognised in another jurisdiction and wish to have that recognition validated here, a  copy of the relevant decision, order or certificate
• If you are aged between 16 and  18, a Court Order from the Circuit Family Court exempting you from the requirement to be at least 18 years of age in order to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate.
• If you wish to have a  name other than that on your original birth certificate shown on the Gender Recognition Certificate,  evidence of "use and repute" over two years or a Deed Poll for a change of name which has been enrolled in the High Court

Send the completed application form, along with the relevant required documents from the list above, to the following address:

For attention of G. Mc Gourty/M. Dwyer/K. Cornyn
Client Identity Services
Department of Social Protection
Shannon Lodge
Carrick-on-Shannon
Co Leitrim
N41 KD81

If help is required to complete the application form, contact either Geraldine Mc Gourty 071 9672588, Mary Dwyer 071 9672549 or Kathleen Cornyn 071 9672582.