Jennifer

Jennifer, 48 years old, identifies as trans female lesbian, in a 12-year relationship with an individual who identifies as cis female bisexual.

I can still remember very vividly the first time we held hands, and it just sounds cheesy and corny, but it was magical. And I still feel the same way every time we hold hands and it’s just pure love, and affection, and I still feel that same way 12 years down the line. And it’s such an innocent gesture. We’ve always been very publicly affectionate. Very tactile, very publicly affectionate, I would say.

But we’ve become more cautious as time has gone on. For a number of reasons because of the prevalence of anti-trans sentiment that is around at the moment. So that is a constantly pervading subconscious threat. The village [in Manchester] doesn’t feel like the safest place for me and my partner to go out in anymore because of that aspect being right there. It’s only, it seems to be only a minority, but that minority is enough, if you look at it from a percent, from a risk management point of view. You’ve got 100% of the social population in the village on Canal Street. Of that percentage, you’ve got a section that are going to be the trans community, then you have a section that are the accepting LGBT community. But then there’s going to be the ‘tourists’, who are just there for a fumble and a fight or whatever. But then, because it’s the gay community, it’s likely to have some transphobia there. It’s just as likely to have some anti trans people so that doesn’t feel so safe anymore.