People who don't get puberty blockers are more likely...to feel like the gender they were considered at birth when they're 18 because they have secondary characteristics from having gone through puberty.

‘Lesbians being anti-trans is a lesbophobic trope’

Amy Ashenden, Interim CEO of Just Like Us, is dispelling the harmful trope that lesbians are against the trans community.

WORDS BY AMY ASHENDEN

31st March 2023

[…]

New research by Just Like Us has found that lesbians are the most likely of the whole LGBTQ+ community to be supportive of trans people. Lesbians are the most likely to say they know a trans person (92%), and also the most likely to say they are “supportive” or “very supportive” of trans people (96%). That’s compared to 89% of LGBTQ+ people overall, and just 69% of non-LGBTQ+ people.

The research was independently conducted and surveyed more than 3,600 adults aged 18-25. Even within a group of young adults, who would be expected to be more supportive of trans people, lesbians are still incredibly strong trans allies relative to the rest of the LGBTQ+ community.

But there are other reasons that the idea that lesbians are more likely to be anti-trans doesn’t add up. One is that being a lesbian and being trans are not mutually exclusive – sexual orientation and gender are different parts of our identities. You can be trans and a lesbian.


Secondly, as a lesbian, I see so much overlap with the experiences we and trans communities encounter in the heterosexist world we live in. Particularly, as a butch lesbian, I know that we are both used to living in the margins, to not having our identities respected or understood. Lesbians and trans people stand side by side – we always have done and always will. And this isn’t just my opinion, the research shows this is the case too.

[…]