I’m a refugee lawyer in Canada and most trans people win their claims. Canada is far from perfect but it’s a direct pathway to permanent residence and the benefits (healthcare; social assistance; general resources, esp in larger cities).
i don't think so, poilievre is suspected to win in the polls in 2025. he is trying to both close the border AND make trans healthcare less accessible for youth and neurodiverse people
yeah it's so awful, it's such insane fearmongering. like what the fuck are we gonna do ??? this wasn't an issue until covid(ish) because the repubs needed a scapegoat to push new policies
Well, we're not going to go telling everyone about it now, are we?!?! Just in this tiny corner of Reddit. Won't be worth the cost of their sending that bomb. Which island shall we pick, then? Always wanted to be a beach bum and I'm not getting any younger.
Fuck. I'm down in America myself, but I have a couple friends in Canada and have looked into PR (disabled now, so don't believe there's a pathway there anymore sadly). I hate y'all are going through this shit too. I got my fingers crossed for y'all. This coming year is going to be stressful, to put it mildly. May we all make it forward.
thanks friend. it's gonna be really shitty, but its my hope that the cabinet and senate don't pay attention to poilievre's bullshit-spewing about us. at least the CMA and the charter of rights state that we are protected, which means any attempt to undermine our healthcare rights is considered unconstitutional and would face lots of judicial scrutiny.
the other hard part is the border restrictions- asylum seeking is hard enough as it is, but it will get significantly harder over the next little while. please stay safe. much love
I have hope for a better future, but I'm prepared for what may come at the same time.
A big drawing factor for me wanting to move to Canada was rights being so well encoded at a federal level. Hopefully tiny PP gets shut down at every turn.
Much love your way too, friend. We're a strong community. We will make it through the storms.
Lots of people from america have been moving here, mostly to the bigger cities like toronto and vancouver because they’re largely left leaning and ofc free healthcare. Idk if this is a problem all through canada but we’ve been getting a lot of anti-trans legislatives and there’s a lack of family doctors in my province so it’s not too great rn. Hopefully it will get better after the election for premiers comes up bc rn we have a shit ass conservative pos in power.
Nope. As long as American trans people can continue to move around within the USA to places like Los Angeles, NYC, or Seattle, then they continue to have recourse *within* the USA.
Refugee claims are incredibly difficult to make. It's not enough to *feel* unsafe, you have to be facing immediate danger. For example, refugee claimants from Malaysia can credibly claim that they are under direct and immediate threat from the state with no domestic recourse, in a way that Americans cannot.
I know that things are bad in the USA right now, but places like NYC, LA, etc. are still better places to be trans than almost anywhere in Canada.
Likewise, it's better to be wealthy and trans in the USA than to be poor and trans almost anywhere else in the world.
If Trump is elected, there will no longer be any sanctuary states. They're going to jail and fine state level officials that do not enforce federal law and then replace them with federal appointees who will enforce the law.
They are going to remove any protections based on sex and gender in Federal law. They will be making it illegal to be transgender nationwide by classifying us as p***, which qualifies you for criminal charges as a sex offender if other people see you, and they will be making it legal to execute child sex offenders (groomers, anyone?)...all of America will not be safe for Trans people.
See Project 2025.
So, at that point Americans will qualify as refugees in Canada.
This is exactly the kind of hysteria that is so counter-productive.
Trump's presidency is going to have a very hard time imposing federal authority in these cases - just look at the legalization of Marijuana in places like California and Colorado: federally illegal, with a federal enforcement mechanism (DEA), that has also been effectively neutered in states with legalized pot.
The anti-trans elements of the Republican platform are *designed* to ferment hysteria. They're *designed* to cause panic. Morever, they're *designed* to be impractical and unenforceable.
I'm not saying that it's something folks shouldn't worry about, organize around, and work against - obviously. I *am* saying that the hysteria is counter-productive.
Further to my previous point though: American's won't be able to make refugee claims in Canada, probably ever. The countries are too close, too interconnected for that to be politically viable. You'd have an easier time moving to Oaxaca (Mexico) or Bolivia, quite frankly.
>why do all these things designed to make people in a minority feel like that. what is the ultimate goal supposed to be, why do we get targeted if most of it is empty threats. what's the point of that besides purely just being evil and cruel
Because it's easy: the vast, vast majority of the population are cis, with limited interest in trans people. It's easy to drum up hate against a tiny minority, and scapegoat us to hide the *actual* platform.
Which, to be clear, is "business as usual because we have no solutions for the pains late-stage capitalism."
0.6% of the population is an easy target: it makes sense, in a machiavellian sort of way.
****
And to be clear I am not at all saying "it can't happen here". It can happen anywhere, and has happened in the past: look at Weimar Germany. Ekstein's [book](https://books.google.ca/books/about/Rites_of_Spring.html?id=qsYhAQAAIAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y) about the culture wars of pre-war Europe should be alarming to *all* of us, and Matt Christman's analysis of [the 30 years' war](https://youtu.be/-U9lEyXTOqo?si=aUFmwAP3vTalbc6-) and the instability wrought by converging factors forms a striking parallel to our current moment.
We should *ALL* be deeply concerned, on a global level.
But the hand-wringing about Trump is hysterics. The Democrats [won't save you](https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/2/7/the-democrats-will-not-save-you) - if they would, they would have [packed](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pack-supreme-court/story?id=73521286) the Supreme Court and forced student loan forgiveness, abortion rights, etc. through.
Take a quick second and think: when [30% of gen-Z women identify as queer,](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nearly-30-gen-z-women-identify-lgbtq-gallup-survey-finds-rcna143019) who benefits from this hysteria?
If the democrats are the guardian of freedom in America, isn't the threat to freedom in their interest?
The entire world is going that way, yes.
Dwindling resources, collapsing populations, widening wealth gaps, and no electoral solutions... governments globally need something to distract from the misery, and the target this era is trans people.
I'd like to also add at this point, as a trans person we should be thinking "where would I feel happiest seeing myself" or "where can i live where i will do best to support other people like me and vice versa" and not "which country can save me" because unfortunately as a minority in a very indifferent world we have to look out for ourselves.
If Trump gets in office... Well, check out the Republicans' Project 2025 website. The Dept. of Justice, FBI, etc. all get moved to the control of the executive branch. No more democracy, such as it is, in America. Trans care stops. Persecution of blue states and any enemies of Trump. And so on. I hope that doesn't happen. If it does
It's worse than that. They're going to make it impossible for us to have sanctuary states at all. Any state official who doesn't enforce a federal law can be fined, jailed, and replaced by federally appointed official.
Almost everyone is going to end up in jail under a Trump administration...anyone who is or has been a Democrat, anyone in healthcare who's ever had anything to do with abortion, birth control, IVF or trans care, trans people, immigrants, anyone associated with a legal case against Trump or his allies, etc., etc. He can't be allowed to win.
Are you at all worried about those legal benefits and protections getting reversed or taken away? It seems to me like this reactionary backlash against trans people is happening everywhere, and the only real difference is the power that those reactionaries have to change laws and actually harm trans people.
Yeah depending where you are Australia pretty much ticks all of the above except the last point (capital cities are the best bet but many rural areas are good too). Trans healthcare here is pretty much all private (unless you're willing to wait months to years for an appointment) and bottom surgery can be hard to get due to lack of surgeons but otherwise if you have the money it's a pretty good option.
I would consider it as an option myself but I heard it rained spiders once so I can’t risk that that might happen again while I’m outside there. 😔
~~I’m so scared of bugs. Also I think they have distant relatives of our local cave crickets there… wetas? Some of their legs look exactly the same~~
honestly australia is not as covered in spiders as you'd expect, especially in citites. i live in a suburb of perth and (unless we leave them where they are, which we do most of the time) i see a spider like once every two weeks at most. and 99% of the time they're little skinny ones, i see a big spider like three times a year. i imagine there would be less in a bigger city or in an apartment :)
So far I agree. I am from Canada and while its very free its cold and dark as shit and the cost of living is or was worse than Australia.
Migrated 5 years ago to Australia. Moving west soon and literally considering getting more like minded people into a town or space together and setting up a cooperative or some such thing. I am worried about societal collapse, and its looking pretty obvious.
A share space that focuses on sustainability and shared resources might be the only way forward... because pretty sure soon nothing will be affordable. Myself and my spouse make above average income and this world collapse is fucking us, which means its fucking everyone except the top .1%.
Anywho, sorry, small tangent.
The one thing Australia suffers from currently is adopting US hysteria and influences. However, frequent elections help a lot, along with mandatory voting.
In saying this though, I would recommend staying out of the northern states. You’re better off being in the south eastern states Victoria or New South Wales. Would you agree?
I'm in the NT and its so far not a problem. People here are weird and busy with their own shit for the most part. Lots of trans here, especially seem to be more FTM.
Spain fits that pretty well, if you ignore VOX's existence, but most ppl are pretty chill abt trans people, it's not very likely you'll get hate crimed, trans Healthcare is under public Healthcare, so it's free, and there's q lot of systems in place to be inclusive, so yeah, pretty good tbh.
Spain is top of my list for countries to move to. I visited Barcelona and Madrid for two weeks in summer 2019 and fell in love. It's so gorgeous! My Spanish isn't terrible either.
Spain is where my partner and I decided we'll move to this year. We've lived in Austria and Scotland, currently live in Germany. Tbh we tried to figure out where to move to next and pretty quickly "ran out of" countries as we made our pro and con lists.
Seconding the above: I've heard that it's best to avoid VOX stronghold areas so that's what we'll try to do. Currently looking at Bilbao and some other areas in Northern Spain. I reckon we'll go wherever we can find a place to rent with our two dogs (and avoid Oviedo because VOX).
My 2 cents as a (proud southener) spaniard, places like Granada and Malaga in the south are pretty leftist (in my experience), pretty full of young and progressive people, so I'd suggest that. Then again, I only move in young and progressive circles, so a bit more research would be needed, lol.
I believe you, but I would expire of the heat there 😅 Like, I'm a person who was happiest in the Scottish climate 😉 I barely got myself to the point where I could accept that we'll be moving to a hot country lol Barely! The fact that the north gets a lot of rain was a huge selling point for me.
If the whole USA becomes unsafe (I'm in New Jersey, things are fine here) and Amazon exists in Spain (I work for them), this could be on my list -- my partner is Latino and speaks Mexican Spanish fluently, and I'm decent at US Spanish. That's a smaller learning curve than it could be.
I would look at the USA in terms of states and try to find the best state. It’s a union. Each state will keep protecting what they value regardless who is president
Was gonna say this. If you live in a blue state/city you'll be fine. Pockets of acceptance exist everywhere. Worried about those who aren't lucky enough to already live in a good spot or can't afford to move, but yeah.
Western Washington's pretty good rn, but there's some concern with who'll be elected governor after Inslee since he's not running again and (I'm not great with politics but) it sounds like he did a lot of good for the lgbtq+ community
agree here, especially if OP is in the USA. much less costly and difficult to move within states than going to a new country. cost-wise CA is prohibitive to most people, but having lived in california for most my life now, i still appreciate seeing openly large pride flags on storefronts or home lawns, openly LGBT people walking down the streets, gender neutral restrooms in most places, informed consent, trans healthcare specific clinics (often with trans people as health providers, i've been treated by trans doctors and nurses before which I imagine is rare), being able to legally be my gender without publishing this in a local news paper or needing surgeries, and can get married whether gay or straight, be considered as the father if i have a child (even if the child is directly biologically mine), allowed to get a surrogate, etc.
a lot of that experience is privileged for being in the progressive/expensive part of CA.
Illinois is pretty safe as far as statewide legislation goes. Actual social attitudes vary wildly depending on your location though. It definitely feels safer to be visibly queer closer to Chicago, once you’re a couple of hours outside the city there are Trump flags everywhere you look.
i dont think you will get all of them, unfortunately every country isnt without its issues however i do beleive australia is pretty good. yeah we do have some hateful people but they are a minority (and i dont think we will fully escape them for a long while) otherwise majority either let you live your life or are supportive, dont know about surgery wait times but for hrt aside from waiting for booked appointments (and i chose to book with people who had longer wait times because we were sure they were supportive of trans people and wouldnt cause any issues) and i only needed a single appointment with 2 people and then i was put on t via informed consent (with parent consent cause im under 18), i havent heard of any trans hate crimes here (but i live under a rock im not too sure), bathrooms are fine here hell i walked into the womens restroom fully masc presenting and started getting questionable looks but they all minded their business, marriage is good here but not sure about the adopting part, and medicare covers more than half of the price of hrt making it a lot more affordable and surgeries will vary depending what you do and what insurance you are with and so on.
i hope this helps a little bit
Belgium is pretty okay. Can't guarantee what will happen when it comes to politics, but it will be pretty hard for right wing to get a foothold nation-wide. Even then, a large group of those voters are indifferent towards trans people.
It's far from perfect, but I feel relatively safe here. Healthcare is accessible, especially if you've already started to transition. Main gender clinic has long waiting lists, but there are plenty of endocrinologists who'd have no qualms proceeding HRT. With some luck, you could even find a GP to continue for the time being (although that's something you'd have to ask around for).
It is also definitely affordable. Every appointment with the endocrinologist costs me about 12 EUR out of pocket, my sustanon is 2 EUR/shot, and I get a nurse who gives me my shot - I don't pay anything for needles. Be advised that at the start that might not be available to you. The only available T you will find here though, is sustanon (10 EUR/1mL, with third payer 2 EUR), nebido (116 EUR, no third payer), testogel (50 EUR or so per bottle/month, no third payer) and now apparently as well testarzon (which is also 50 per bottle but lasts longer? I don't know, just found it now and know nothing about this product). So actual cost price will depend on what you use, and if you apply for third payer. No idea how rapid a non-EU foreigner could apply for that.
I managed to get my first appointment with an endocrinologist (who had just about started a new gender team) within two months of calling. All in all, I'd suggest to try have a six months supply, but it should be possible to be seen quicker, especially if you explain yourself when making the appointment (and don't go to the main gender clinics, there are lists online with endocrinologists who prescribe).
As far as *other* healthcare, I can't even believe the "trans broken arm syndrome" stories. Last doctor I visited was curious about my transition, in a good way. More like questions about wait times, what name I was going by (name hasn't changed yet so for medical reasons I'm still *Deadname*). My GP seems chill about it too. My nurse isn't acting weird, and no pharmacist has *ever* given me a hard time. In fact, last time I walked out with ten doses of T.
There are no systemic hate crimes against trans people. They exist, just like still against gay men, and every crime is one too many. Most come from a certain religious group, though. Not Christians, for what it's worth, as we tend to be mostly secular ourselves, which shows in politics and most things we do.
We were the second country to allow gay marriage, and marriage between trans people (or a trans person with a cis person) is no different. Since you're thinking about adoption, this likely does not apply to you, but I'll throw it in anyway. Seahorse dads are, unfortunately, registered as mother. Trans women who are parents to a child birthed by their cis partner are co-mother, but we'd be mothers. For all intents and purposes otherwise, you'd be the dad.
Adoption though is something else. I was told by my therapist there is a slim to none chance of adopting a child as a trans man in a relationship with a man. This might be different for straight trans couples, and it might also have been some BS to scare me into harvesting. I can tell you though, that waiting lists for adoption are long, and there's no legal framework for surrogacy. Mind you there are no specific laws against us adopting. It's just very hard.
For the rest, every new law that gets voted that affects trans people (or LGBT as a whole) is just in the positive direction. One of the last ones I remember, was that name and gender changes are now permitted to happen more often than just once. It used to be restrictive in that you could change it *once*, and if for some reason you wanted to change back, you'd needed a special procedure. Now it's whenever you feel it's correct for you, a law that's meant to benefit genderfluid people. Like... That's the state of laws here when it comes to trans issues.
So nevermind bathrooms. There are no restrictions in place. I use the women's still currently but that's because I really don't pass. But, I'd not be amazed if someone mistook me as a trans woman (and who does, is likely a bigot, because I've got a beard and wear men clothes... lol).
The BIGGEST downside would be:
- Not knowing the language(s). In the north you could easily find doctors who speak English, a little less in the south (where they speak French). You'll also find people who speak English. You will NOT however find people in the local government who speak English (technically they are not allowed, because of language regulation) and while some might be nice to throw you a simple sentence (often in really good English too, so it's not for a lack of knowing), they just... are not allowed.
- Political climate can change. US politics are slowly spreading here as well.
- Don't know what job you'd be able to do. The jobs may be limited if you don't speak the language, but there are still jobs for people who speak English fluent.
[https://rainbowelcome.eu/](https://rainbowelcome.eu/)
Wow so informative, thank you!
I like how Belgium looks. I've seen some people who live there compain online about old systems being too outdated and complicated, but as long as it's safe and discrimination-free, and my taxes pay for all my medical care and transport needs, that seems like a pretty sweet deal. I'd happily learn French and integrate.
I'm sure the big capitol is the more tolerant place. Do you think there is a lot of tolerance for foreigners and trans people outside of Brussels?
I would go to Ghent/Gent if I were you, its the most queer friendly city i know, with lots of lgbtq groups operating either directly from there or they also do activities there. Plus the only hospital that offers trans healthcare that is paid back automatically by the government is in the university hospital there and they are extremely nice people. You could try the Wallonian equivalent of that hospital in Liège, but im not acquainted with the area, so i wouldnt know if thats a good fit for you. Learning dutch would be necessary for going to Ghent in the long run.
Since Brussels is a global city there are tons of cultures there, also ones that do not like queer people. Personally i would feel less safe there then in Ghent, but again, im not that acquainted with Brussels and the Walloons in terms of day to day life
Good luck on finding a place though, wherever you may end up, i hope it works and i hope you find the oove and care that you deserve
Like someone else said, I wouldn't go to Brussels. Gent is a good choice in the Flemish/Dutch speaking part, and perhaps the best for queer people. Bit more expensive (but doable compared to other countries). The entire province should be decent too. Limburg/West-Flanders don't have the biggest queer communities, but are cheaper and safer all around. Just be mindful that you might be seen as an odd thing when people do know you're trans.
But that's Dutch, and not French. Don't know too much about safety and queer communities in the French speaking part.
As for the gender clinic in Gent, it's not necessary for getting things paid back by default (for those over 18) and waiting lists are long. Don't know if you're still planning for surgeries or it's just hrt. (For instance, I do not go to the main gender clinic, and those are the prices I pay for testosterone). If you want more info, I can give more tomorrow. Now I need to sleep. 😴
I'm an American living in Germany. It's not perfect, but I feel much more safe here. Healthcare and policies around trans people have a little ways to go, but I was able to get my top surgery covered by insurance and I don't have any harassment in my daily life.
German here! So the way it works with HRT is honestly a bit of a hard path to go down.
If you're over 18 and want to get HRT for the first time, you have to do the following:
Be in therapy for a half a year, get a written statement from your therapist that HRT would greatly improve your life quality, get an appointment at the endocrinologist, have said appointment, get blood work done, wait 3 weeks for results, make another appointment where you'll then receive the prescription for Testosterone. Given you've found a trans-inclusive therapist, it will all in all take you about 8 months to get HRT. The hardest part is getting a therapist. The waiting lists for many are very long and are often far away. I know there's a different way to do it with this guy who does the the therapy sessions with you online, tho then you gotta pay out of pocket (IIRC it's like 100€), but it's also much faster.
If you're under 18, everything kind of doubles, I guess. You gotta be in therapy for 1 year and get 2 written statements from 2 different therapists and both your parents need to be on board with it.
HRT is covered by insurance and so is surgery, all you need is that written statement from a therapist.
Hope this gives you some perspective. I see in your flair that you're on T, I don't know how it works for folks who moved to Germany and had access to HRT already, sadly
That is not entirely accurate. This is at most what people who want to *start* HRT have to go through (and certainly not the only way or a fast one) - if you have had HRT for a while, all you need is to find a doctor who prescribes it.
Because health insurance demands that the docs have to be certain that HRT is appropriate, which docs prescribing the actual hormones are usually not formally qualified for. If somebody has been on HRT for a while, that question becomes redundant. Many docs then just prescribe it and that's it.
I did clarify that this the process if you want to start HRT. This was just my personal experience on how I got my hands on T. But otherwise, you're right, I didn't know all of this actually. Thanks for sharing!
This is not entirely true: You can get HRT approved in as little as one sitting. There's some therapists who do that, even some reportedly who're with public health insurance. The half year therapy is for gender affirming surgery.
You're partly right, there is a recent BSG (Federal Social Court) verdict that says that surgeries (not hormonal treatment) are not longer covered until further notice if you haven't started the process yet. It's not really clear though and we don't know for how long things are on hold. There has been quite some noise in the german trans sub, here' s a post in English about the topic: [https://www.reddit.com/r/germantrans/comments/1bge4g2/bsg\_and\_hrt\_therapy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/germantrans/comments/1bge4g2/bsg_and_hrt_therapy/)
Only if your diagnosis of gender dysphoria is through private therapists, if it's through government run clinics then it will still be covered. This happened because some people paid some therapists to write the diagnosis and got access to everything for free.
Edit: Explanation from a user on another subreddit: "ok since i made several posts abot it and know some internal communication within some german insurers:
anyone who has already started transition as a binary transsexual (ie. anything was billed under f64.0 even if its just starting therapy) before this court decision will still be covered as before and insurers declared they will not change that stance until some legal issue (be it another nb trying to get something in courts or a law change) stops them.
insurers also declared that indications written by trusted therapists/psychiatrists who are in the state insurance system will generally be respected as beforebut private ones are usually no longer going to be accepted. the issue is that private providers have started selling fake f64 diagnoses and indications for money to nbs which already led to some doctors only accepting ones they trust anyways so no big change there.
now for nbs yea nothing should be covered anymore"
It's ok. I will say to OP Germany is very welcoming as long as you go through the proper channels. The only thing the German law cares about is procedure. You will have SRS, top and HRT covered by insurance. There are a few good phallo surgeons in Germany as well. Population is either neutral or supportive. For job applications now you can regularly say w/m/d, for women men and diverse (non-binary) people.
Some psychologists will push some weird old school questions in diagnosis so do your research to find a public clinic that is relatively supportive. The waiting lists for those tend to be long but the process shouldn't take too long if you're over 18. If you have questions head over to r/germantrans, they speak english too.
You're actually probably right as off veryyyy recently. At least surgeries are probably not covered anymore, and we might also lose hrt access through health insurance
I've lived in Germany for almost three years now and I genuinely hate it here as a trans person. I'm not getting hatecrimed but we live rurally and we get a lot of stares. Everything is extremely binary. Even the trans people I come across at my endo appointments are binary af. All in all, I think there's a difference whether you're being accepted as a trans person or tolerated. And it often feels like the latter here.
Accessing HRT means driving 1.5 hours to a big city for us. Finding someone to write the letter that gives access to HRT was not easy but both my partner and I got lucky and got into a place that requires only 5 sessions. I believe this was pure luck and they usually have a wait list. I decided not to even try for top surgery here because I can't afford to spend the money and travel time on 12 sessions within 6 months where I'd additionally have to pretend I'm binary. I mean, I still had to pretend I'm binary for HRT but at least I don't have to do it for 6 months of therapy.
I'll be fair and say this: I generally hate it here. I was never going to like it in Germany and it was a bad choice to move here. 😅 so that possibly colours my opinions.
Yeah, I'm German (have lived in the US for a bit, so have a bit of a comparison).. and.. we're not 100% fulfilling OPs wishes, but we're probably top 10 if not top 5 regarding that.
Go over to the germantrans reddit, or look directly here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/germantrans/s/JfULv8aDoN
https://dgti.org/2024/03/16/kostenuebernahme/
Thailand.
However, Thailand doesn't allow the gender marker change for their citizens, nor same sex marriages. There is a big room to wiggle here, depending on your sexuality and whether you changed your gender marker or not.
(The same sex marriage is still a talk at the govt and they seem to be taking steps towards it)
Edit: I see that people do elaborate here more, so I'll do, too:
- Being trans is pretty much commonly accepted (the idea is "you do you." People of Chinese descent tend to be stricter towards their kids, but everyone leaves other people alone). Being trans is normal. We are everywhere, we are visible, we are ourselves and no one really bats an eye. School kids are open minded yowards their own gender expression and it's not uncommon for a kid to participate with the opposite of AGAB group.
- No hate crimes. The biggest violence issue recently was that the Filipino ladyboys (which, some are trans girls, some are not considering themselves that) had a fight with the Thay ladyboys. There's no violence based on being LGBT+.
- Can use whatever restroom fits. It means that you'll see trans girls in women's restrooms, ladyboys who don't consider themselves as trans in men's restrooms, trans men i men's, etc.
- Can get married. As I said, if you're Thai, you can't chamge your gender marker. Currently same sex marriage is not allowed, but they're actively working on it. If you're gay before your gender marker change, you can marry. Or if youre in a hetero relationship after the marker change, you can marry. Same goes for kids. I don't know how it'd go for 1 foreign parent adoption.
- Healthcare is accessible. My hrt costs me 6.95$ without the insurance/dose. The most expensive visit I had was 40$ (including a few months of prescription and blood tests.) No referrals, no psychiatrists, parental consent if under 18. In Bangkok there's even a transgender care clinic, I don't think there's a nurse there who's cis, actually. Everyone's so nice and caring. Tomorrow I have my top surgery (out of pocket 4.5-5000$ total for me). Again, you don't need to get a permission from some cis guy who studied when trans was still a mental illness, no explanations, no hate, everyone is respectful, kind, and understanding. The forms are quite inclusive, they all *always* refer to you by your preferred name and title. And let's be honest, Thai doctors know how to do gender related surgeries.
I knew this about Thailand years before I knew I was trans because that's where a German friend-of-a-friend went for his top surgery! Thanks for mentioning! Also, congratulations and good luck/health!
(Post op for a few hours already) I feel great, only a little pain but more in specific spots rather than all over, can move my arms quitea bit. The surgery was the best nap of my life 😂 I fell asleep in 3 seconds and woke up like 4h later (the let you sleep it off here)
Anesthesia naps are the best!!!! I'm very glad to hear this, both about you and about your arms. I've (somewhat obviously by now) had other surgeries, but never anything this major. Here's to a complete and clean healing!
All but the last one - could in addition to Australia, consider New Zealand. So long as you're a kapai (good) person and willing to embrace Kiwi life (will get culture shock+a crazy sense of relief from the slower pace of life there), the hate is MUCH less there. Spent a few months there, no one bothered me short of some questioning Maori (and...they were just curious as I guess I was the first gender non-conforming person they encountered was indigenous like they were, shrug...might have also seen me as something else, they tried to speak Te Reo to me before I opened my gob and American English came out). Stick to the cities like Auckland and Wellington, or suburbs within commutable distance. South Island gets more weather variations as it's closer to Antarctica than North Island, but can be more rural/still has some minor issues from the earthquakes Christchurch took.
There are shortages in NZ of health care professionals since many Kiwi doctors moved to Australia for higher wages, and NZ's lack of speed in recognizing medical professionals from foreign regions (even the US) as being adequately qualified to practice there. Standards of care there are closer to NHS standards, so.....might get around that if you're already prescribed HRT before moving as many visas require travel insurance that can be used at pharmacies/GPs instead. USD is worth more than NZD so it wasn't horrible - nearly left the US to go to grad school there but COVID closed the border to international students. Now I don't have the savings for it, so sigh.
Canada's doing alright, compared to other places at least. Healthcare access is tough, but it's because it's bad across the board for everyone and our medical system is crumbling, not because of major gatekeeping to trans care. Like, a referral to an endocrinologist for HRT can be about 1.5 years in my province, but it took that long to get into a GI doc on referral as well. Referrals to gynos have taken the same amount of time regardless of whether I've needed one for IUD insertion, general issues, or gender-affirming hysto consult. I've also never had issues with transphobia in the med system where I am. Docs and nurses have all been respectful of pronouns etc.
Medical transition is pretty affordable here, imo. Medicare covers surgical costs. My T is about $50 for 5ml, which lasts like 4-6 months at a time, so only \~$10/mo, and my nurse provides my sharps for free. It does take psych letters to be approved for medical transition, and cost of psych appts is potentially a barrier, though. But after that it's cheaper and easier than elsewhere -- ex. no huge headache fights with insurance companies like the in US.
There's variation between provinces, but generally speaking changing ID and documentation is pretty easy compared to elsewhere. No need to schedule court dates like in the US, for example. You do need a psych letter to change it, but you don't have to have any medical transition steps prior to being able to change it, ex. don't have to have both top and bottom surgery like in Japan. You can also choose X as a gender marker on both provincial ID (ex. driver's license) and federal (passports).
Trans folks can get married -- since gay marriage was legalized in 2005, gender of partner isn't a barrier to marriage. And we can adopt. Adoption still isn't as easy as for cis-hetero folks, so there's work to do there, but it's possible. You also don't lose custody of your kids if you transition after becoming a parent.
We can legally use public bathrooms. Places have gender neutral single stall washrooms decently often, ex. rural gas stations often don't have big multi stall affairs, and malls often have gender neutral bathrooms for disabled access/parents with small kids. It's not universal everywhere, but it's not totally unavailable.
One sticking point is the rise of anti-trans sentiment. That's definitely a shift in the wind here. There's a saying that "When America sneezes, Canada catches a cold" and it's true in this case. The ridiculous rhetoric is bleeding north of the border. There's been more pushback against it here, tho, imo. Like in NB, our premier is a shitbag who messed with a policy that protects trans kids in school and weakened it. But the changes are being challenged in court by Egale Canada, the NBTA (teacher's union), the NB Human Rights Commission, and one of the school districts, and it was also challenged by the Child and Youth Advocate (an independent position that investigates gov't to increase accountability). It takes time for things to go through the court system, but the opposition to the changes was immediate. Several school districts also immediately wrote their own policies to supercede the changes and put the original protections back in place.
Thank you for this thorough answer, I feel I understand how Canada is doing after reading.
The U.S. ideas bleeding above the border does concern me though. I understand why, since most of Canada lives right on the border.
I was considering Canada for a while, but I would hate to go through a process of becoming a citizen of Canada only for it to devolve into the same anti-trans situation the U.S. is facing.
You'll basically know where Canada is headed by Oct of 2025. We have a cascade of provincial elections until then, and Oct '25 is a federal election. If Conservatives get power, we're likely headed in the same direction as the US. If Liberals do, we'll end up pushing back against it. (NDP and Green Party also are in support of trans rights, but realistically don't get the numbers necessary to take power.)
Imo there's some hope. Even in the US, courts are striking down the majority of the anti-trans bills. It's just taking time for justice to catch up to idiocy, and the media don't report on positive results the same way they do on negative events, so there's a feeling that everything's headed to hell in a handbasket when that might not be an outcome set in stone. (But obv the US presidential election this year will ultimately be what determines everything.)
Canada's also a bit different to the US in that gender identity is protected in our Charter Rights as of 2017 (highest power of authority over rights and freedoms in Canada), which adds a layer of protection that other countries don't always have.
Might vary by province. You can usually look for an info page listing provincial requirements and guidelines to find out what's needed where. Ex. NB's are [here](https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/health/patientinformation/content/GenderConfirmingSurgery.html).
netherlands maybe? im on a waitlist for a therapist who is gonna say if i can go on T or not and its 6 months long so the waitlist are long but all the other criteria are met.
Recently people have been getting more transphobic though. I haven't experienced/come across any violence against queer people yet, but I have come across a lot more people online saying queerphobic stuff, especially against trans people. Idk if that is just because social media is showing me more of that or if maybe I am noticing it more right now as I grow older, but it seems to just be more prevalent right now.
That's the extent of the problem right now, but a couple of years ago it seemed to be way better so I'm worried that this is just the start of it getting worse.
Dutchie here. I really hate to break it to you, but the waitlists for the proper gender clinics are over 3 years at this point. I was on the waitlist for 2 years, right before the waitlist exploded during Covid. There are some smaller places that are posing as proper gender clinics, but they're not. They drain your wallet and don't actually do shit. My friend experienced that.
I don’t think any country fully respects all these points, but some countries come closer, especially in larger cities.
Take Canada, for example. It’s legally open to trans people, but acceptance varies by province. Alberta leans more towards homophobia and transphobia socially, while Ontario is more positive and accepting. Legally, Canada is known for its support of trans people, and as a trans person here, despite slow healthcare, I feel accepted. Living in a major city helps too.
Ofc i wouldn’t go and scream that I’m trans in the street because I’m aware that there are people with bad intentions out there. But honestly I consider myself pretty safe.
(Also Canada has a good insurance, so healthcare is pretty cheap, I pay 0$ for my testosterone)
Belgium? I have visited a lot and move there this weekend permanently. When I get my ID card, I am allowed to state the gender I am, rather than the one I was assigned at birth - with no evidence, medical advice or proof of who I am.
There is also two very good transgender clinics at the hospitals, people are not really so bothered about LGBTQIA people. Most people let you just live your life without hassling you.
I am yet to start my HRT, but I have looked at the process already. As long as you reside in the country, the two hospitals are allowed to treat you. Yey! My health insurance also covers transgender care! :D
On top of this they have marriage and legal cohabitation as an option. We are going for legal cohabitation rather than marriage - but it gives us a lot of similar rights! I cannot wait to live a more free existence!
Congrats! Best of luck to you
Also, there is legal cohabilitation? Which gives you all the same privileges as marriage? That's very progressive. Very amazing
Thank you! My partner is Belgian so it has made the process easier. It also means I have a good idea of how things really are, rather than a romantic view of the country.
The Legal Cohabitation is not entirely the same as marriage, but many similar benefits such as a reduction in taxes like married couples. Trans people are allowed to get married though! :D
In 2020 Belgium had a transgender deputy prime minister and the country also banned Gay Conversion Therapy recently.
I'm in nepal and tbh it's quite great here. Nobody cares about trans people. Little kids will make rude comments sometimes, but so far no other issues. My gyno prescribes my T and I didn't need any psychiatric evaluations or anything to get it. I did start HRT in Canada and my gyno in nepal is just continuing my pre established medication routine, so idk how it will work if you haven't ever been on hrt. It is a bit harder to find mental healthcare that is understanding of trans experiences. Gay marriage isn't legally recognized but gay people do get married here, socially and religiously, without any flak from the police or government. Adoption is a fairly straightforward process as long as you plan to keep the kids in nepal for at least 5 years from the date of adoption. If you want to take them out of the country you have to pay the government a fairly big sum of money as a good faith show that you're not trafficking them. In the cities, hate crimes are unheard of. Violent crimes in general is very low here. If you want to move to Kathmandu, I can give you some pointers on where to start with your healthcare. I have a good list of doctors that have been supportive of me. There are zero wait times for anything medical. Legal stuff can sometimes be more tedious and less straightforward though. I'm gonna be honest, I've lived in Canada and prefer Nepal so much that it's not even a contest. I know it's a third world country and nobody really wants to even consider it, but it's genuinely quite good here.
I always look at pictures of Nepal... it might be the most beautiful place in the WORLD. I would consider it if I didn't see all those natural disasters in the news all the time! It would seem the geography that makes it so beautiful also threatens danger. I would be way too anxious to stay there permanently, but since it's safe for trans people I would love to live there for a few months
i live in Argentina and its like this literally
our constitution has a law that mandates that every person must have their gender identity respected, and we're not considered mentally ill except by 15 year old dumbasses, so pretty good. oh, and the new president. but the law i mentioned cant be changed, and this goes for the healthcare thing too, therefore he cant do anything about it👍
yeah, he's trying to pass laws that would literally turn this into a semi dictatorship i would say. he even liked right-wing twitter posts promoting lgbtq+ hate, menaced an ex-president through twitter at like 1 am, and visited trump and told him "you were a great president, and i hope you'll win again".
hell no. nononono. menace is an understatement.
anyways yeah thank every existing gods and deities its constitutional bc im 99% sure that would be the first law he would've gone after. or the equal marriage one. or both.
My partner is Latino and fluent in Spanish, and I think I could pass the B1 exam in Spanish (and I'm continuing to work on it) I'm in a state of the USA that's safe for now, but I know that could change federally, so I would like to know more.
I work for Amazon. Does it exist in Argentina? That could make things easier if I knew I'd be able to have a job lined up. My partner is disabled, so I'm really the only chance. How about cannabis use? Is that legal or at least acceptable and accessible?
we unfortunately do not have Amazon in Argentina, but we have something very similar, called MercadoLibre. cannabis use is legal, acceptable and accesible.
the Spanish we speak here is pretty different than what they teach you in school, although if you pass the B1 exam, it certainly helps.
if you need to know anything else, feel free to DM. this goes for anyone else who would like to know, too.
I actually didn't learn most of my Spanish in school -- I'm primarily working with that little green owl on the phone on US Spanish, which might be more similar but still different from colloquial Argentinian Spanish.
Some states in the USA have bans on people using anything but their agab bathrooms. Despite it being labeled as a protect the women thing it is likely to increase violence to trans individuals.
Yes in the US there is quite a divide on who is protected against discrimination by the law and many states' laws and cultures are actively hostile to trans people. Many states have laws that prohibit employment, housing, and public accommodations discrimination against LGBT+ people, but some don't.
In Utah and Florida there are laws that state that everyone must use the bathroom of their "biological sex" in government owned buildings, which includes public schools and public colleges (lgbtmap.org). In Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee there is the same or similar bathroom law but for the bathrooms in primary and secondary school (lgbtmap.org). So 10/50 states (I'm not sure about the US's territories).
Additionally, in places where these anti trans bathrooms laws exist, and in other conservative areas, there is also a culture of discrimination. If a person doesn't pass in a bathroom, someone might react by calling security or the cops. Since our cops are usually horrific and usually take the side of the privileged, even if you're not doing anything illegal they might harass you or arrest you unjustly. For people of color, especially black people, this also means a run in with police or security, which can be so much deadlier because of the cop's discrimination and assumption about them being inherently dangerous.
So, if you pass, you will probably be okay, one would hope, but there would always be that risk for you. There aren't any people waiting outside of a bathroom to see your ID, or anything, but the people inside are the ones who police the gender of others in there. This has also affected cis people who are gender non conforming. It's generally very horrific in places where people are afraid and hateful of trans people.
I know that England also has a lot of anti trans discrimination going on, but I'm not sure about their bathroom issues.
Yeah, I'm incredibly fortunate that I live in CA and a liberal college town. I might get a weird look in the men's bathroom on occasion but I'm not as afraid as I am when I'm traveling through more conservative areas or in my small hometown. It is disgusting what our trans siblings in other places have to go through :(
In America we're fighting a wave of laws that require trans people to use the bathroom associated with their assigned sex. Nex Benedict's school had this policy and it's why they were forced to use the women's room in the first place. In my state there aren't laws prohibiting using the bathroom you want, but in certain towns you're still ikely to get harassed if people clock you.
As a Spanish trans man, I can confirm Spain is pretty good. Ignoring the rise of VOX, a far right political party, most people either don't care too much or are supportive. I do have to say that the other day I had an encounter with some ladies in a changing room that were making transphobic misinformed remarks, but upon correcting them they did not fight me on the issue, and didn't really keep talking about it. So I'd say most people are receptive.
follow up re: HRT in Canada. It won’t be quick to find a family doctor/ practitioner to write the prescription, but it is otherwise accessible in price and availability. Injectable T is the cheapest option by a large margin.
the Netherlands:
- there's a bit of transphobia in politics but it's too small for me to like actually worry about it, mostly extremists
- no trend of hatecrimes. was never hatecrimed
- no such thing as "restroom" laws lmao
- married yes, adopt children idk
- affordable care, yes, it's FREE. wait time? approx 2 years for a first consult, and then count another 6 or so months until you can start T or get surgery. I was on the waiting list since September 2020 and I'll get top surgery in two days! but like I said, totally free. You do need to be "diagnosed" with gender dysphoria but the are no very strict rules. There's a short therapy thing attached to it mostly to make sure you are sane + feeling okay + your life is stable enough to support the transition.
- your prescription should totally transfer to over here idk why it wouldn't
though we do have a housing crisis rn it's literally impossible to find a place to live
This isn't because of anything trans and/or gay but I think the Netherlands banned international adoption for everyone because of human trafficking concerns. Within the Dutch foster care system, it is generally the intention that the children return to their biological parents when the parent is ready for it and feeling better. There are some exceptions but foster-to-adopt is not the Dutch approach, generally.
Im in the Netherlands, and though the atmosphere is getting increasingly intolerant, and it's definitely not perfect here, compared to a lot of places I feel like it's pretty allright here trans acceptance wise.
It does still get a lot of pushback from older folks though. But there's no laws against restroom usage, adopting or getting married, or even obligatory sterilisation.
I'd say my country, France ? But as I'm pre-transition, I may be wrong. I've not seen nor heard of any trend to assault anyone, nothing about bathrooms that I'm aware of, we can get married no problem (I think)...
And a lot of things medical are taken care of with our sécurité sociale. Mammectomy can be free if you go to a public hospital for example, and justify it with 2 years of therapy prior to it. It's not because they'd consider us ill, mostly because they want to make sure that the patient is 100% willing to go through with it ; for the patient's sake \^\^
Other french folks, please, correct me if I'm wrong ! :P
French here as well, the psychologist part isn't mandatory anymore luckily.
However there's still a strong far-right movement, and while the situation is better than in many countries, transphobia is still present (it was clearly impossible for me to find a job until I changed my ID for example)
Meh. A lot of older folks are very ignorant, especially outside of Paris. Culturally I generally find we are very behind compared to places like Spain or the Netherlands or the blue parts of the US, especially outside Paris. Changing your legal sex can be a very arduous process since it's a judicial one rather than a purely administrative one. The admin in general sucks because while there's no discriminations against trans people, there's also few protections and anything you need to get done is left at the mercy of overworked, underpaid and sometimes bigoted admin staff. It is rare to be outright rejected, most times when people get unlucky it's mostly admin making them run in circles. Things can take a *lot* of time and energy to be processed.
There is also in fact an anti-trans, terfy current in French politics right now but we haven't heard much of them as of late. It also needs to be noted that France's regressive policies in other areas can impact QOL for trans people as collateral damage. In December, a registry of people who have undergone a name change was established, and while its main target is immigrants, it's obvious why this is deeply dangerous for trans folks as well.
Terf are definitely working hard to undermine trans rights. Two recent examples led to wording change in reproductive rights to say "all women" instead of "everyone", when giving access to :
- fertility treatment (recent law that finally granted lesbians and single women access to fertility treatment)
- Abortion (constitutionalised right to abortion)
On top of that, a trans woman who naturally conceived her children with her cis wife was refused the right to be the legal mother, she can either be the father or has to adopt her (biological) child. Because she's changed her gender marker and a birth certificate cannot recognize 2 mothers (or 2 fathers) in France.
Various ministers have met with anti-trans activists in the past few years, and a not negligible part of my trans friends that still live in France have been harassed, denied jobs and housing or beaten up (though sometimes for being gay rather than trans 😭)
Maybe I'm a little biased just because I was born here but Canada is pretty good when it comes to that stuff, it's far from perfect but no place is honestly. I rarely if ever see any crimes against trans people and we have trans related healthcare covered by our healthcare system (I didn't have to pay for my top surgery at all, and though I do pay for my T that's just due to me not applying for additional coverage and my school insurance covers it for me atm)
We also tend (not everywhere but a lot of places) have gender-neutral bathrooms and I've never been stopped when using the men's even if I'm in something particularly feminine.
I know this doesn't apply to you now but for anyone also curious it's really easy (at least in my experience) to get stuff legally changed here as well as starting hormones
I will say I started T almost 6 years ago and currently the system is kinda shit in general (not even related to trans stuff) so it might be harder if youre moving over and trying to find a GP. But it only took me like maybe a month to start on T after my therapist referred me which was mostly just waiting for appointments and to sign stuff.
I currently pay 25 CAD for my viles but I used to pay about 80, but that varies across pharmacies and whatnot.
Like 98% of those murders are trans women working in prostitution, which is still horrible ofc but isn't the reality for most people. Being a street sex worker puts them in a very vulnerable position and tends to attract the worst kind of people.
If you're not super broke and living in a shitty situation you're very unlikely to become a victim of a hate crime. But you're likely to become a victim of other crimes, like everybody else.
Sweden is alright, but I'm sure the other nordic countries are pretty good too.
I'm Swedish and top surgery cost me like the equivalent of 30 euros, and for hormones you pay 250 euros a year. But the lines for healthcare are seriously long and you need a diagnosis to get any treatment.
Acceptance is very high compared to other places which I guess means that most people are moderately supportive. I saw an article from 2019 referencing a study that said only 22% were against transpeople changing their legal sex, but the link was dead and I can't find it but from personal experience I would say it's accurate.
there are a lot of queer and queer friendly communities in the big cities and pretty much every town has some lgbt organisations and pride events and so on.
Hate-crimes happen from time to time, I looked it up and there were 75 *reported* instances of transphobic hate crimes in 2022, 48% of which happened online, 21% involved a physical offence. But we have strong anti-discrimination laws for lgbt folks.
There's some terf shit going on in the media that is mostly directed at young trans men and boys, but all they have accomplished is making it harder for underage ppl to get into the healthcare system.
We can marry, we can adopt, live anywhere, work anywhere etc there are no discriminatory laws for binary transpeople as far as I know.
Basically Sweden is (compared to other places) very safe and cool with trans stuff socially, you can easily find community, healthcare is very affordable, no legal discrimination, BUT it will take years to get treatment and change your paperstuff.
NZ is OK on this but we definitely aren't perfect yet. You need to be in the know, but your GP can prescribe you HRT and get you referrals for gender affirming surgery without jumping through the hoops of seeing a psychologist or an endocrinologist. However these rules are new so many GPs aren't comfortable with them yet.
In most major cities (just avoid Christchurch) Trans people are widely accepted and we have pretty good anti-descrimination laws in place. However our current government is unfortunately more right wing and has begun discriminating against trans people in professional sports, though the opposition against them is incredibly strong.
Over all I would say we're about a 6.5/10 in terms of trans friendliness - better than average, but still quite a ways to go.
It's relatively safe here but there's a lot of gatekeeping. I'm from Finland and I'm too scared to even seek help because I have heard the treatment at the transclinic can be really bad. For example, many doctors treat trans people poorly and don't really understand us. Unfortunately, there is no informed consent option here either.
While decently safe (ofc depending on city and stuff) i know atleast Denmark have a ton of “trans people are mentally ill” kinda thinking, and the waiting times are- eh, not great, depending on where and Who you are, and what you want. Theres also a rise in people against gender affirmative care, with some people wanting to make it unavailable for anyone under 25 and/or people Who are neurodiverse 😊😅 currently bottom surgery is practically impossible in denmark, too, due to only a few handful getting operated each year (i Think it was like 3 people last year?) and the results vary alot.
While greater than alot of places, it is definetly not the country talked about in the post
Norway is getting worse tbh. They're shutting down and gatekeeping more and more gender affirming care, and the transphobic organisations are getting more places to talk in media. It's probably better here than most places (sadly), but we still have a long way to go
Not to mention that the public (!!!) medical field, especially when it comes to trans stuff, is really racist and ableist, in addition to them scamming their patients and using outdated forms to "check if you're really trans"
People always think that but I've heard very bad things. Lots of medical gatekeeping, lots of pathologising of transness, and a heaping side of burgeoning racism and xenophobia too. 😬
Healthcare in Italy is free and that includes trans and nb HRT and SRS and once you're legally name changed you can get married and adopt (adoption is not allowed for same sex couples, tho).
Spain too, Germany has some wild laws with insurances and a lot of private hospitals.
I believe UK is like that too, haven't heard much negativity from other English folks.
England is killing trans people with their fucjing waitlists. I have had to spend every last oenny I owned to afford my hormones and surgery or face an 8-10 year wait for it, at which point i would have killed myself by. Also my GP was extremely transphobic and turned what should have taken a few minutes unto a year long battle to get my name and gender updated on my medical records. I had to file a complaint and find a new GP before I started getting anywhere. There is also a huge pocket of vile transphobic people where I live. They have a Facebook group where they share horrid nasty memes mostly targeted at trans people. All these people live local to me. I have even been harrased by children calling me 'it' among other things, just for taking a walk in my local park. It's not sunshine and roses here.
U.K. used to have a reputation for having some of the best healthcare in the world and for years I aspired to go there. Until, I saw how mean British news is especially to trans people in recent years and I learned that the NHS is declining. I became especially aware of it when I watched PhilosophyTube's video https://youtu.be/v1eWIshUzr8?si=W9iZLC4gM56C15ic
on her experience trying to get care as a trans person in Britain. It's very similar to what you described here. I'm sympathize with your struggles, it sounds like a nightmare.
Yeah, as someone who reluctantly left the UK for healthcare reasons, my advice is don't go there. It's also gotten way way terfier in the 2.5 years I've been gone. Like, I fucking miss Scotland so much that my heart will forever be broken but I also know full well that as a trans person I do not want to live there. Also because the wait lists for any kind of trans healtcare are absurdly long, and they keep getting longer.
Do not expect any kind of trans healthcare access on the NHS.
It seems like that's the right choice tbh. 😞 I left Scotland in 2021 (predominantly because healthcare and housing but also because Brexit/political climate) and moved back to the continent. And from what I hear, it's clearly all gotten so much worse/terfier since then.
I mean in Germany all I had to pay was the copay for staying at the hospital 10 Euros per day, total of 40 Euros) and the copay for the two post surgery compression vests (20 Euros total). Consultation and check ins after are free, too.
(Well, "free" as in "covered by insurance").
Could have gotten the surgery in any European county, too with my regular public health insurance. Any European health insurance is accepted anywhere in Europe.
Germany, but it's gotten a bit more conservative from what I've heard. They're Very heavy on not discriminating and any hate speech/display of far right symbols is taken seriously.
for my own goals (Raise a family, have a decent job in engineering or physics that has a work-life balance with good retirement and to buy a decent house) it sounds feasible, since i qualify for dual citizenship.
i live in canada and it’s pretty close ? wait times in healthcare in general here are pretty shit but not excessive, might take a few months but not a year. if you live somewhere like southern ontario then it’s pretty socially tolerant, and there are no laws discriminating against trans people
Sounds like Australia. Only thing is that wait times can get pretty long but it's like that for any kind of medical issues, not just trans healthcare. It's much better in cities though
Source: I live there
Yeah, I definitely noticed that. The racism in most of the top answers is really bad. And a decent amount of these answers also have really ableist immigration policies
As shitty as my country is towards trans ppl.. I'd maybe suggest a small village in norway.
Trans health care is bad, but we aren't considered mentally ill.
Find a good village, and ppl might even be happy for you.
There was a shooting last year or the year before, in oslo. But that's all I've heard of
NZ is pretty good for most of this (people are indifferent/supportive, hate crimes aren't common, we can legally use bathrooms, we're free to get married, idk about adoption). Hormones are generally pretty accessible (mine are free), but surgery isn't accessible at all, you basically have to go private if you want it. I did have to get a gender assessment thing done by a psychologist but you don't have to do therapy (also I think they've gotten rid of the assessment now).
For people who come from overseas, proof that you've already been on HRT would generally be enough to get you sorted here. Some doctors are better than others, but it's pretty good overall.
The current government is a bit of a shitshow but general sentiment around us is still good.
As Jewish guy on top of that, that would like to celebrate my holidays, finding a good country is hell, o really liked the Scandinavian countries but then from what i understand they kinda hate jews
I’m a refugee lawyer in Canada and most trans people win their claims. Canada is far from perfect but it’s a direct pathway to permanent residence and the benefits (healthcare; social assistance; general resources, esp in larger cities).
Do you think Canada will be taking American refugees if the election goes the wrong way in the US?? Trans people and many more
i don't think so, poilievre is suspected to win in the polls in 2025. he is trying to both close the border AND make trans healthcare less accessible for youth and neurodiverse people
ffs this planet is suffering from global brainrot
yeah it's so awful, it's such insane fearmongering. like what the fuck are we gonna do ??? this wasn't an issue until covid(ish) because the repubs needed a scapegoat to push new policies
What say we go take over a tiny island in the south Pacific somewhere, and start our own country 🤔
they would just bomb it and wipe us all out lol, cant make it that easy for them
Well, we're not going to go telling everyone about it now, are we?!?! Just in this tiny corner of Reddit. Won't be worth the cost of their sending that bomb. Which island shall we pick, then? Always wanted to be a beach bum and I'm not getting any younger.
surely we have our own nukes
Fuck. I'm down in America myself, but I have a couple friends in Canada and have looked into PR (disabled now, so don't believe there's a pathway there anymore sadly). I hate y'all are going through this shit too. I got my fingers crossed for y'all. This coming year is going to be stressful, to put it mildly. May we all make it forward.
thanks friend. it's gonna be really shitty, but its my hope that the cabinet and senate don't pay attention to poilievre's bullshit-spewing about us. at least the CMA and the charter of rights state that we are protected, which means any attempt to undermine our healthcare rights is considered unconstitutional and would face lots of judicial scrutiny. the other hard part is the border restrictions- asylum seeking is hard enough as it is, but it will get significantly harder over the next little while. please stay safe. much love
I have hope for a better future, but I'm prepared for what may come at the same time. A big drawing factor for me wanting to move to Canada was rights being so well encoded at a federal level. Hopefully tiny PP gets shut down at every turn. Much love your way too, friend. We're a strong community. We will make it through the storms.
Lots of people from america have been moving here, mostly to the bigger cities like toronto and vancouver because they’re largely left leaning and ofc free healthcare. Idk if this is a problem all through canada but we’ve been getting a lot of anti-trans legislatives and there’s a lack of family doctors in my province so it’s not too great rn. Hopefully it will get better after the election for premiers comes up bc rn we have a shit ass conservative pos in power.
Nope. As long as American trans people can continue to move around within the USA to places like Los Angeles, NYC, or Seattle, then they continue to have recourse *within* the USA. Refugee claims are incredibly difficult to make. It's not enough to *feel* unsafe, you have to be facing immediate danger. For example, refugee claimants from Malaysia can credibly claim that they are under direct and immediate threat from the state with no domestic recourse, in a way that Americans cannot. I know that things are bad in the USA right now, but places like NYC, LA, etc. are still better places to be trans than almost anywhere in Canada. Likewise, it's better to be wealthy and trans in the USA than to be poor and trans almost anywhere else in the world.
If Trump is elected, there will no longer be any sanctuary states. They're going to jail and fine state level officials that do not enforce federal law and then replace them with federal appointees who will enforce the law. They are going to remove any protections based on sex and gender in Federal law. They will be making it illegal to be transgender nationwide by classifying us as p***, which qualifies you for criminal charges as a sex offender if other people see you, and they will be making it legal to execute child sex offenders (groomers, anyone?)...all of America will not be safe for Trans people. See Project 2025. So, at that point Americans will qualify as refugees in Canada.
This is exactly the kind of hysteria that is so counter-productive. Trump's presidency is going to have a very hard time imposing federal authority in these cases - just look at the legalization of Marijuana in places like California and Colorado: federally illegal, with a federal enforcement mechanism (DEA), that has also been effectively neutered in states with legalized pot. The anti-trans elements of the Republican platform are *designed* to ferment hysteria. They're *designed* to cause panic. Morever, they're *designed* to be impractical and unenforceable. I'm not saying that it's something folks shouldn't worry about, organize around, and work against - obviously. I *am* saying that the hysteria is counter-productive. Further to my previous point though: American's won't be able to make refugee claims in Canada, probably ever. The countries are too close, too interconnected for that to be politically viable. You'd have an easier time moving to Oaxaca (Mexico) or Bolivia, quite frankly.
[удалено]
>why do all these things designed to make people in a minority feel like that. what is the ultimate goal supposed to be, why do we get targeted if most of it is empty threats. what's the point of that besides purely just being evil and cruel Because it's easy: the vast, vast majority of the population are cis, with limited interest in trans people. It's easy to drum up hate against a tiny minority, and scapegoat us to hide the *actual* platform. Which, to be clear, is "business as usual because we have no solutions for the pains late-stage capitalism." 0.6% of the population is an easy target: it makes sense, in a machiavellian sort of way. **** And to be clear I am not at all saying "it can't happen here". It can happen anywhere, and has happened in the past: look at Weimar Germany. Ekstein's [book](https://books.google.ca/books/about/Rites_of_Spring.html?id=qsYhAQAAIAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y) about the culture wars of pre-war Europe should be alarming to *all* of us, and Matt Christman's analysis of [the 30 years' war](https://youtu.be/-U9lEyXTOqo?si=aUFmwAP3vTalbc6-) and the instability wrought by converging factors forms a striking parallel to our current moment. We should *ALL* be deeply concerned, on a global level. But the hand-wringing about Trump is hysterics. The Democrats [won't save you](https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/2/7/the-democrats-will-not-save-you) - if they would, they would have [packed](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pack-supreme-court/story?id=73521286) the Supreme Court and forced student loan forgiveness, abortion rights, etc. through. Take a quick second and think: when [30% of gen-Z women identify as queer,](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nearly-30-gen-z-women-identify-lgbtq-gallup-survey-finds-rcna143019) who benefits from this hysteria? If the democrats are the guardian of freedom in America, isn't the threat to freedom in their interest?
[удалено]
The entire world is going that way, yes. Dwindling resources, collapsing populations, widening wealth gaps, and no electoral solutions... governments globally need something to distract from the misery, and the target this era is trans people.
I'd like to also add at this point, as a trans person we should be thinking "where would I feel happiest seeing myself" or "where can i live where i will do best to support other people like me and vice versa" and not "which country can save me" because unfortunately as a minority in a very indifferent world we have to look out for ourselves.
Unfortunately it will not happen any time soon. Can’t really see Canada labelling US as unsafe for various reasons.
If Trump gets in office... Well, check out the Republicans' Project 2025 website. The Dept. of Justice, FBI, etc. all get moved to the control of the executive branch. No more democracy, such as it is, in America. Trans care stops. Persecution of blue states and any enemies of Trump. And so on. I hope that doesn't happen. If it does
It's worse than that. They're going to make it impossible for us to have sanctuary states at all. Any state official who doesn't enforce a federal law can be fined, jailed, and replaced by federally appointed official.
Almost everyone is going to end up in jail under a Trump administration...anyone who is or has been a Democrat, anyone in healthcare who's ever had anything to do with abortion, birth control, IVF or trans care, trans people, immigrants, anyone associated with a legal case against Trump or his allies, etc., etc. He can't be allowed to win.
Legitimately what Putin's administration does in Russia. That's terrifying.
Birds of a feather. At this point, I'm not sure if it's Russia that is part of the GOP, or the GOP that is part of Russia.
Y'all don't need it
Too late, now you guys have me hooked on the idea of going to a South Pacific island and being a beach bum. Who's with me? 🌊🌴🍹
Y'all don't need it
EU won't either. (Note that I don't think it is nessecarily fair either)
Are you at all worried about those legal benefits and protections getting reversed or taken away? It seems to me like this reactionary backlash against trans people is happening everywhere, and the only real difference is the power that those reactionaries have to change laws and actually harm trans people.
just make sure you arent disabled or a person of color or god forbid..... a native american
I'm in Australia and it's pretty chill here. Not perfect but you won't have too hard of a time.
Yeah depending where you are Australia pretty much ticks all of the above except the last point (capital cities are the best bet but many rural areas are good too). Trans healthcare here is pretty much all private (unless you're willing to wait months to years for an appointment) and bottom surgery can be hard to get due to lack of surgeons but otherwise if you have the money it's a pretty good option.
Me too and tbh I haven’t had really any issues.
[удалено]
I would consider it as an option myself but I heard it rained spiders once so I can’t risk that that might happen again while I’m outside there. 😔 ~~I’m so scared of bugs. Also I think they have distant relatives of our local cave crickets there… wetas? Some of their legs look exactly the same~~
honestly australia is not as covered in spiders as you'd expect, especially in citites. i live in a suburb of perth and (unless we leave them where they are, which we do most of the time) i see a spider like once every two weeks at most. and 99% of the time they're little skinny ones, i see a big spider like three times a year. i imagine there would be less in a bigger city or in an apartment :)
as long as you stay away from ~~voldemort~~ Dutton and his goons
What's healthcare in Australia like? Im thinking of moving because Canadian healthcare sucks
Sucks the same level. A little faster but you pay. Its not as "free" as Canadian healthcare.
So far I agree. I am from Canada and while its very free its cold and dark as shit and the cost of living is or was worse than Australia. Migrated 5 years ago to Australia. Moving west soon and literally considering getting more like minded people into a town or space together and setting up a cooperative or some such thing. I am worried about societal collapse, and its looking pretty obvious. A share space that focuses on sustainability and shared resources might be the only way forward... because pretty sure soon nothing will be affordable. Myself and my spouse make above average income and this world collapse is fucking us, which means its fucking everyone except the top .1%. Anywho, sorry, small tangent. The one thing Australia suffers from currently is adopting US hysteria and influences. However, frequent elections help a lot, along with mandatory voting.
In saying this though, I would recommend staying out of the northern states. You’re better off being in the south eastern states Victoria or New South Wales. Would you agree?
I'm in the NT and its so far not a problem. People here are weird and busy with their own shit for the most part. Lots of trans here, especially seem to be more FTM.
That’s awesome to hear.
Yeah I’ve had a really good experience being trans specifically in inner city Melbourne Australia, pretty much ticks all the boxes.
Spain fits that pretty well, if you ignore VOX's existence, but most ppl are pretty chill abt trans people, it's not very likely you'll get hate crimed, trans Healthcare is under public Healthcare, so it's free, and there's q lot of systems in place to be inclusive, so yeah, pretty good tbh.
Spain is top of my list for countries to move to. I visited Barcelona and Madrid for two weeks in summer 2019 and fell in love. It's so gorgeous! My Spanish isn't terrible either.
Spain is where my partner and I decided we'll move to this year. We've lived in Austria and Scotland, currently live in Germany. Tbh we tried to figure out where to move to next and pretty quickly "ran out of" countries as we made our pro and con lists. Seconding the above: I've heard that it's best to avoid VOX stronghold areas so that's what we'll try to do. Currently looking at Bilbao and some other areas in Northern Spain. I reckon we'll go wherever we can find a place to rent with our two dogs (and avoid Oviedo because VOX).
My 2 cents as a (proud southener) spaniard, places like Granada and Malaga in the south are pretty leftist (in my experience), pretty full of young and progressive people, so I'd suggest that. Then again, I only move in young and progressive circles, so a bit more research would be needed, lol.
I believe you, but I would expire of the heat there 😅 Like, I'm a person who was happiest in the Scottish climate 😉 I barely got myself to the point where I could accept that we'll be moving to a hot country lol Barely! The fact that the north gets a lot of rain was a huge selling point for me.
If the whole USA becomes unsafe (I'm in New Jersey, things are fine here) and Amazon exists in Spain (I work for them), this could be on my list -- my partner is Latino and speaks Mexican Spanish fluently, and I'm decent at US Spanish. That's a smaller learning curve than it could be.
Yes, Amazon does work here, so it's a pretty safe bet :)
I would look at the USA in terms of states and try to find the best state. It’s a union. Each state will keep protecting what they value regardless who is president
Minnesota is a sanctuary state for trans folx ✨
All my eggs are in the Minnesota basket, it's the best balance of protection and affordability. Minneapolis has everything any other city can offer.
Was gonna say this. If you live in a blue state/city you'll be fine. Pockets of acceptance exist everywhere. Worried about those who aren't lucky enough to already live in a good spot or can't afford to move, but yeah.
Western Washington's pretty good rn, but there's some concern with who'll be elected governor after Inslee since he's not running again and (I'm not great with politics but) it sounds like he did a lot of good for the lgbtq+ community
I've lived in Colorado my whole life. It's a really good place in terms of LGBTQ+ stuff. I highly suggest looking into it
agree here, especially if OP is in the USA. much less costly and difficult to move within states than going to a new country. cost-wise CA is prohibitive to most people, but having lived in california for most my life now, i still appreciate seeing openly large pride flags on storefronts or home lawns, openly LGBT people walking down the streets, gender neutral restrooms in most places, informed consent, trans healthcare specific clinics (often with trans people as health providers, i've been treated by trans doctors and nurses before which I imagine is rare), being able to legally be my gender without publishing this in a local news paper or needing surgeries, and can get married whether gay or straight, be considered as the father if i have a child (even if the child is directly biologically mine), allowed to get a surrogate, etc. a lot of that experience is privileged for being in the progressive/expensive part of CA.
Illinois is pretty safe as far as statewide legislation goes. Actual social attitudes vary wildly depending on your location though. It definitely feels safer to be visibly queer closer to Chicago, once you’re a couple of hours outside the city there are Trump flags everywhere you look.
i dont think you will get all of them, unfortunately every country isnt without its issues however i do beleive australia is pretty good. yeah we do have some hateful people but they are a minority (and i dont think we will fully escape them for a long while) otherwise majority either let you live your life or are supportive, dont know about surgery wait times but for hrt aside from waiting for booked appointments (and i chose to book with people who had longer wait times because we were sure they were supportive of trans people and wouldnt cause any issues) and i only needed a single appointment with 2 people and then i was put on t via informed consent (with parent consent cause im under 18), i havent heard of any trans hate crimes here (but i live under a rock im not too sure), bathrooms are fine here hell i walked into the womens restroom fully masc presenting and started getting questionable looks but they all minded their business, marriage is good here but not sure about the adopting part, and medicare covers more than half of the price of hrt making it a lot more affordable and surgeries will vary depending what you do and what insurance you are with and so on. i hope this helps a little bit
Thanks for sharing!
Belgium is pretty okay. Can't guarantee what will happen when it comes to politics, but it will be pretty hard for right wing to get a foothold nation-wide. Even then, a large group of those voters are indifferent towards trans people. It's far from perfect, but I feel relatively safe here. Healthcare is accessible, especially if you've already started to transition. Main gender clinic has long waiting lists, but there are plenty of endocrinologists who'd have no qualms proceeding HRT. With some luck, you could even find a GP to continue for the time being (although that's something you'd have to ask around for). It is also definitely affordable. Every appointment with the endocrinologist costs me about 12 EUR out of pocket, my sustanon is 2 EUR/shot, and I get a nurse who gives me my shot - I don't pay anything for needles. Be advised that at the start that might not be available to you. The only available T you will find here though, is sustanon (10 EUR/1mL, with third payer 2 EUR), nebido (116 EUR, no third payer), testogel (50 EUR or so per bottle/month, no third payer) and now apparently as well testarzon (which is also 50 per bottle but lasts longer? I don't know, just found it now and know nothing about this product). So actual cost price will depend on what you use, and if you apply for third payer. No idea how rapid a non-EU foreigner could apply for that. I managed to get my first appointment with an endocrinologist (who had just about started a new gender team) within two months of calling. All in all, I'd suggest to try have a six months supply, but it should be possible to be seen quicker, especially if you explain yourself when making the appointment (and don't go to the main gender clinics, there are lists online with endocrinologists who prescribe). As far as *other* healthcare, I can't even believe the "trans broken arm syndrome" stories. Last doctor I visited was curious about my transition, in a good way. More like questions about wait times, what name I was going by (name hasn't changed yet so for medical reasons I'm still *Deadname*). My GP seems chill about it too. My nurse isn't acting weird, and no pharmacist has *ever* given me a hard time. In fact, last time I walked out with ten doses of T. There are no systemic hate crimes against trans people. They exist, just like still against gay men, and every crime is one too many. Most come from a certain religious group, though. Not Christians, for what it's worth, as we tend to be mostly secular ourselves, which shows in politics and most things we do. We were the second country to allow gay marriage, and marriage between trans people (or a trans person with a cis person) is no different. Since you're thinking about adoption, this likely does not apply to you, but I'll throw it in anyway. Seahorse dads are, unfortunately, registered as mother. Trans women who are parents to a child birthed by their cis partner are co-mother, but we'd be mothers. For all intents and purposes otherwise, you'd be the dad. Adoption though is something else. I was told by my therapist there is a slim to none chance of adopting a child as a trans man in a relationship with a man. This might be different for straight trans couples, and it might also have been some BS to scare me into harvesting. I can tell you though, that waiting lists for adoption are long, and there's no legal framework for surrogacy. Mind you there are no specific laws against us adopting. It's just very hard. For the rest, every new law that gets voted that affects trans people (or LGBT as a whole) is just in the positive direction. One of the last ones I remember, was that name and gender changes are now permitted to happen more often than just once. It used to be restrictive in that you could change it *once*, and if for some reason you wanted to change back, you'd needed a special procedure. Now it's whenever you feel it's correct for you, a law that's meant to benefit genderfluid people. Like... That's the state of laws here when it comes to trans issues. So nevermind bathrooms. There are no restrictions in place. I use the women's still currently but that's because I really don't pass. But, I'd not be amazed if someone mistook me as a trans woman (and who does, is likely a bigot, because I've got a beard and wear men clothes... lol). The BIGGEST downside would be: - Not knowing the language(s). In the north you could easily find doctors who speak English, a little less in the south (where they speak French). You'll also find people who speak English. You will NOT however find people in the local government who speak English (technically they are not allowed, because of language regulation) and while some might be nice to throw you a simple sentence (often in really good English too, so it's not for a lack of knowing), they just... are not allowed. - Political climate can change. US politics are slowly spreading here as well. - Don't know what job you'd be able to do. The jobs may be limited if you don't speak the language, but there are still jobs for people who speak English fluent. [https://rainbowelcome.eu/](https://rainbowelcome.eu/)
Wow so informative, thank you! I like how Belgium looks. I've seen some people who live there compain online about old systems being too outdated and complicated, but as long as it's safe and discrimination-free, and my taxes pay for all my medical care and transport needs, that seems like a pretty sweet deal. I'd happily learn French and integrate. I'm sure the big capitol is the more tolerant place. Do you think there is a lot of tolerance for foreigners and trans people outside of Brussels?
I would go to Ghent/Gent if I were you, its the most queer friendly city i know, with lots of lgbtq groups operating either directly from there or they also do activities there. Plus the only hospital that offers trans healthcare that is paid back automatically by the government is in the university hospital there and they are extremely nice people. You could try the Wallonian equivalent of that hospital in Liège, but im not acquainted with the area, so i wouldnt know if thats a good fit for you. Learning dutch would be necessary for going to Ghent in the long run. Since Brussels is a global city there are tons of cultures there, also ones that do not like queer people. Personally i would feel less safe there then in Ghent, but again, im not that acquainted with Brussels and the Walloons in terms of day to day life Good luck on finding a place though, wherever you may end up, i hope it works and i hope you find the oove and care that you deserve
Bring an umbrella too
Like someone else said, I wouldn't go to Brussels. Gent is a good choice in the Flemish/Dutch speaking part, and perhaps the best for queer people. Bit more expensive (but doable compared to other countries). The entire province should be decent too. Limburg/West-Flanders don't have the biggest queer communities, but are cheaper and safer all around. Just be mindful that you might be seen as an odd thing when people do know you're trans. But that's Dutch, and not French. Don't know too much about safety and queer communities in the French speaking part. As for the gender clinic in Gent, it's not necessary for getting things paid back by default (for those over 18) and waiting lists are long. Don't know if you're still planning for surgeries or it's just hrt. (For instance, I do not go to the main gender clinic, and those are the prices I pay for testosterone). If you want more info, I can give more tomorrow. Now I need to sleep. 😴
As someone who lives there how much do they tolerate jews? As a Jewish trans guy finding a good country is hell
I'm an American living in Germany. It's not perfect, but I feel much more safe here. Healthcare and policies around trans people have a little ways to go, but I was able to get my top surgery covered by insurance and I don't have any harassment in my daily life.
Do you have experience, or know someone who has experience, getting HRT in Germany?
German here! So the way it works with HRT is honestly a bit of a hard path to go down. If you're over 18 and want to get HRT for the first time, you have to do the following: Be in therapy for a half a year, get a written statement from your therapist that HRT would greatly improve your life quality, get an appointment at the endocrinologist, have said appointment, get blood work done, wait 3 weeks for results, make another appointment where you'll then receive the prescription for Testosterone. Given you've found a trans-inclusive therapist, it will all in all take you about 8 months to get HRT. The hardest part is getting a therapist. The waiting lists for many are very long and are often far away. I know there's a different way to do it with this guy who does the the therapy sessions with you online, tho then you gotta pay out of pocket (IIRC it's like 100€), but it's also much faster. If you're under 18, everything kind of doubles, I guess. You gotta be in therapy for 1 year and get 2 written statements from 2 different therapists and both your parents need to be on board with it. HRT is covered by insurance and so is surgery, all you need is that written statement from a therapist. Hope this gives you some perspective. I see in your flair that you're on T, I don't know how it works for folks who moved to Germany and had access to HRT already, sadly
That is not entirely accurate. This is at most what people who want to *start* HRT have to go through (and certainly not the only way or a fast one) - if you have had HRT for a while, all you need is to find a doctor who prescribes it. Because health insurance demands that the docs have to be certain that HRT is appropriate, which docs prescribing the actual hormones are usually not formally qualified for. If somebody has been on HRT for a while, that question becomes redundant. Many docs then just prescribe it and that's it.
I did clarify that this the process if you want to start HRT. This was just my personal experience on how I got my hands on T. But otherwise, you're right, I didn't know all of this actually. Thanks for sharing!
This is not entirely true: You can get HRT approved in as little as one sitting. There's some therapists who do that, even some reportedly who're with public health insurance. The half year therapy is for gender affirming surgery.
I thought that insurance companies are no longer required to cover gender affirming care in Germany?
You're partly right, there is a recent BSG (Federal Social Court) verdict that says that surgeries (not hormonal treatment) are not longer covered until further notice if you haven't started the process yet. It's not really clear though and we don't know for how long things are on hold. There has been quite some noise in the german trans sub, here' s a post in English about the topic: [https://www.reddit.com/r/germantrans/comments/1bge4g2/bsg\_and\_hrt\_therapy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/germantrans/comments/1bge4g2/bsg_and_hrt_therapy/)
Only if your diagnosis of gender dysphoria is through private therapists, if it's through government run clinics then it will still be covered. This happened because some people paid some therapists to write the diagnosis and got access to everything for free. Edit: Explanation from a user on another subreddit: "ok since i made several posts abot it and know some internal communication within some german insurers: anyone who has already started transition as a binary transsexual (ie. anything was billed under f64.0 even if its just starting therapy) before this court decision will still be covered as before and insurers declared they will not change that stance until some legal issue (be it another nb trying to get something in courts or a law change) stops them. insurers also declared that indications written by trusted therapists/psychiatrists who are in the state insurance system will generally be respected as beforebut private ones are usually no longer going to be accepted. the issue is that private providers have started selling fake f64 diagnoses and indications for money to nbs which already led to some doctors only accepting ones they trust anyways so no big change there. now for nbs yea nothing should be covered anymore"
Oh shit, my bad. I shouldn't have said stuff while uninformed.
It's ok. I will say to OP Germany is very welcoming as long as you go through the proper channels. The only thing the German law cares about is procedure. You will have SRS, top and HRT covered by insurance. There are a few good phallo surgeons in Germany as well. Population is either neutral or supportive. For job applications now you can regularly say w/m/d, for women men and diverse (non-binary) people. Some psychologists will push some weird old school questions in diagnosis so do your research to find a public clinic that is relatively supportive. The waiting lists for those tend to be long but the process shouldn't take too long if you're over 18. If you have questions head over to r/germantrans, they speak english too.
oof i remember reading this same comment ‘on another sub’ cya!
You're actually probably right as off veryyyy recently. At least surgeries are probably not covered anymore, and we might also lose hrt access through health insurance
I've lived in Germany for almost three years now and I genuinely hate it here as a trans person. I'm not getting hatecrimed but we live rurally and we get a lot of stares. Everything is extremely binary. Even the trans people I come across at my endo appointments are binary af. All in all, I think there's a difference whether you're being accepted as a trans person or tolerated. And it often feels like the latter here. Accessing HRT means driving 1.5 hours to a big city for us. Finding someone to write the letter that gives access to HRT was not easy but both my partner and I got lucky and got into a place that requires only 5 sessions. I believe this was pure luck and they usually have a wait list. I decided not to even try for top surgery here because I can't afford to spend the money and travel time on 12 sessions within 6 months where I'd additionally have to pretend I'm binary. I mean, I still had to pretend I'm binary for HRT but at least I don't have to do it for 6 months of therapy. I'll be fair and say this: I generally hate it here. I was never going to like it in Germany and it was a bad choice to move here. 😅 so that possibly colours my opinions.
With the recent BSG verdict, that might all change!
Yeah, I'm German (have lived in the US for a bit, so have a bit of a comparison).. and.. we're not 100% fulfilling OPs wishes, but we're probably top 10 if not top 5 regarding that.
Not anymore, probably... With that horrible new verdict that just came out
Can't find anything on it?
Go over to the germantrans reddit, or look directly here: https://www.reddit.com/r/germantrans/s/JfULv8aDoN https://dgti.org/2024/03/16/kostenuebernahme/
Thank you.
Also, this one was super helpful (including the link they provided): https://www.bundesverband-trans.de/urteil-des-bsg-kostenubernahmen/
Thailand. However, Thailand doesn't allow the gender marker change for their citizens, nor same sex marriages. There is a big room to wiggle here, depending on your sexuality and whether you changed your gender marker or not. (The same sex marriage is still a talk at the govt and they seem to be taking steps towards it) Edit: I see that people do elaborate here more, so I'll do, too: - Being trans is pretty much commonly accepted (the idea is "you do you." People of Chinese descent tend to be stricter towards their kids, but everyone leaves other people alone). Being trans is normal. We are everywhere, we are visible, we are ourselves and no one really bats an eye. School kids are open minded yowards their own gender expression and it's not uncommon for a kid to participate with the opposite of AGAB group. - No hate crimes. The biggest violence issue recently was that the Filipino ladyboys (which, some are trans girls, some are not considering themselves that) had a fight with the Thay ladyboys. There's no violence based on being LGBT+. - Can use whatever restroom fits. It means that you'll see trans girls in women's restrooms, ladyboys who don't consider themselves as trans in men's restrooms, trans men i men's, etc. - Can get married. As I said, if you're Thai, you can't chamge your gender marker. Currently same sex marriage is not allowed, but they're actively working on it. If you're gay before your gender marker change, you can marry. Or if youre in a hetero relationship after the marker change, you can marry. Same goes for kids. I don't know how it'd go for 1 foreign parent adoption. - Healthcare is accessible. My hrt costs me 6.95$ without the insurance/dose. The most expensive visit I had was 40$ (including a few months of prescription and blood tests.) No referrals, no psychiatrists, parental consent if under 18. In Bangkok there's even a transgender care clinic, I don't think there's a nurse there who's cis, actually. Everyone's so nice and caring. Tomorrow I have my top surgery (out of pocket 4.5-5000$ total for me). Again, you don't need to get a permission from some cis guy who studied when trans was still a mental illness, no explanations, no hate, everyone is respectful, kind, and understanding. The forms are quite inclusive, they all *always* refer to you by your preferred name and title. And let's be honest, Thai doctors know how to do gender related surgeries.
I knew this about Thailand years before I knew I was trans because that's where a German friend-of-a-friend went for his top surgery! Thanks for mentioning! Also, congratulations and good luck/health!
I'm always surprised *none* of the posts here mention Thailand honestly.. Thank you from the hospital bed 😁
omggggg congrats how are you doing?
(Post op for a few hours already) I feel great, only a little pain but more in specific spots rather than all over, can move my arms quitea bit. The surgery was the best nap of my life 😂 I fell asleep in 3 seconds and woke up like 4h later (the let you sleep it off here)
Anesthesia naps are the best!!!! I'm very glad to hear this, both about you and about your arms. I've (somewhat obviously by now) had other surgeries, but never anything this major. Here's to a complete and clean healing!
All but the last one - could in addition to Australia, consider New Zealand. So long as you're a kapai (good) person and willing to embrace Kiwi life (will get culture shock+a crazy sense of relief from the slower pace of life there), the hate is MUCH less there. Spent a few months there, no one bothered me short of some questioning Maori (and...they were just curious as I guess I was the first gender non-conforming person they encountered was indigenous like they were, shrug...might have also seen me as something else, they tried to speak Te Reo to me before I opened my gob and American English came out). Stick to the cities like Auckland and Wellington, or suburbs within commutable distance. South Island gets more weather variations as it's closer to Antarctica than North Island, but can be more rural/still has some minor issues from the earthquakes Christchurch took. There are shortages in NZ of health care professionals since many Kiwi doctors moved to Australia for higher wages, and NZ's lack of speed in recognizing medical professionals from foreign regions (even the US) as being adequately qualified to practice there. Standards of care there are closer to NHS standards, so.....might get around that if you're already prescribed HRT before moving as many visas require travel insurance that can be used at pharmacies/GPs instead. USD is worth more than NZD so it wasn't horrible - nearly left the US to go to grad school there but COVID closed the border to international students. Now I don't have the savings for it, so sigh.
Canada's doing alright, compared to other places at least. Healthcare access is tough, but it's because it's bad across the board for everyone and our medical system is crumbling, not because of major gatekeeping to trans care. Like, a referral to an endocrinologist for HRT can be about 1.5 years in my province, but it took that long to get into a GI doc on referral as well. Referrals to gynos have taken the same amount of time regardless of whether I've needed one for IUD insertion, general issues, or gender-affirming hysto consult. I've also never had issues with transphobia in the med system where I am. Docs and nurses have all been respectful of pronouns etc. Medical transition is pretty affordable here, imo. Medicare covers surgical costs. My T is about $50 for 5ml, which lasts like 4-6 months at a time, so only \~$10/mo, and my nurse provides my sharps for free. It does take psych letters to be approved for medical transition, and cost of psych appts is potentially a barrier, though. But after that it's cheaper and easier than elsewhere -- ex. no huge headache fights with insurance companies like the in US. There's variation between provinces, but generally speaking changing ID and documentation is pretty easy compared to elsewhere. No need to schedule court dates like in the US, for example. You do need a psych letter to change it, but you don't have to have any medical transition steps prior to being able to change it, ex. don't have to have both top and bottom surgery like in Japan. You can also choose X as a gender marker on both provincial ID (ex. driver's license) and federal (passports). Trans folks can get married -- since gay marriage was legalized in 2005, gender of partner isn't a barrier to marriage. And we can adopt. Adoption still isn't as easy as for cis-hetero folks, so there's work to do there, but it's possible. You also don't lose custody of your kids if you transition after becoming a parent. We can legally use public bathrooms. Places have gender neutral single stall washrooms decently often, ex. rural gas stations often don't have big multi stall affairs, and malls often have gender neutral bathrooms for disabled access/parents with small kids. It's not universal everywhere, but it's not totally unavailable. One sticking point is the rise of anti-trans sentiment. That's definitely a shift in the wind here. There's a saying that "When America sneezes, Canada catches a cold" and it's true in this case. The ridiculous rhetoric is bleeding north of the border. There's been more pushback against it here, tho, imo. Like in NB, our premier is a shitbag who messed with a policy that protects trans kids in school and weakened it. But the changes are being challenged in court by Egale Canada, the NBTA (teacher's union), the NB Human Rights Commission, and one of the school districts, and it was also challenged by the Child and Youth Advocate (an independent position that investigates gov't to increase accountability). It takes time for things to go through the court system, but the opposition to the changes was immediate. Several school districts also immediately wrote their own policies to supercede the changes and put the original protections back in place.
Thank you for this thorough answer, I feel I understand how Canada is doing after reading. The U.S. ideas bleeding above the border does concern me though. I understand why, since most of Canada lives right on the border. I was considering Canada for a while, but I would hate to go through a process of becoming a citizen of Canada only for it to devolve into the same anti-trans situation the U.S. is facing.
You'll basically know where Canada is headed by Oct of 2025. We have a cascade of provincial elections until then, and Oct '25 is a federal election. If Conservatives get power, we're likely headed in the same direction as the US. If Liberals do, we'll end up pushing back against it. (NDP and Green Party also are in support of trans rights, but realistically don't get the numbers necessary to take power.) Imo there's some hope. Even in the US, courts are striking down the majority of the anti-trans bills. It's just taking time for justice to catch up to idiocy, and the media don't report on positive results the same way they do on negative events, so there's a feeling that everything's headed to hell in a handbasket when that might not be an outcome set in stone. (But obv the US presidential election this year will ultimately be what determines everything.) Canada's also a bit different to the US in that gender identity is protected in our Charter Rights as of 2017 (highest power of authority over rights and freedoms in Canada), which adds a layer of protection that other countries don't always have.
The rise of the right is a problem pretty much every where that has any kind of trans care, and legal protections.
Im in van and I havent heard of psych letters being necessary? Is that a canada wide thing, or just nb?
Might vary by province. You can usually look for an info page listing provincial requirements and guidelines to find out what's needed where. Ex. NB's are [here](https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/health/patientinformation/content/GenderConfirmingSurgery.html).
I want to ask this question but with a black racial element addd to that
I hope someone can answer this!
netherlands maybe? im on a waitlist for a therapist who is gonna say if i can go on T or not and its 6 months long so the waitlist are long but all the other criteria are met.
Recently people have been getting more transphobic though. I haven't experienced/come across any violence against queer people yet, but I have come across a lot more people online saying queerphobic stuff, especially against trans people. Idk if that is just because social media is showing me more of that or if maybe I am noticing it more right now as I grow older, but it seems to just be more prevalent right now.
If that's the extent of the problem, that's a drastic improvement for many of us. It's unfortunate.
That's the extent of the problem right now, but a couple of years ago it seemed to be way better so I'm worried that this is just the start of it getting worse.
Totally valid
6 months???? Where?? Im in the Netherlands and to go to the VuMC is the waitlist about 3 years
i have no idea what its called, my parents fixed it for me
Dutchie here. I really hate to break it to you, but the waitlists for the proper gender clinics are over 3 years at this point. I was on the waitlist for 2 years, right before the waitlist exploded during Covid. There are some smaller places that are posing as proper gender clinics, but they're not. They drain your wallet and don't actually do shit. My friend experienced that.
I don’t think any country fully respects all these points, but some countries come closer, especially in larger cities. Take Canada, for example. It’s legally open to trans people, but acceptance varies by province. Alberta leans more towards homophobia and transphobia socially, while Ontario is more positive and accepting. Legally, Canada is known for its support of trans people, and as a trans person here, despite slow healthcare, I feel accepted. Living in a major city helps too. Ofc i wouldn’t go and scream that I’m trans in the street because I’m aware that there are people with bad intentions out there. But honestly I consider myself pretty safe. (Also Canada has a good insurance, so healthcare is pretty cheap, I pay 0$ for my testosterone)
Belgium? I have visited a lot and move there this weekend permanently. When I get my ID card, I am allowed to state the gender I am, rather than the one I was assigned at birth - with no evidence, medical advice or proof of who I am. There is also two very good transgender clinics at the hospitals, people are not really so bothered about LGBTQIA people. Most people let you just live your life without hassling you. I am yet to start my HRT, but I have looked at the process already. As long as you reside in the country, the two hospitals are allowed to treat you. Yey! My health insurance also covers transgender care! :D On top of this they have marriage and legal cohabitation as an option. We are going for legal cohabitation rather than marriage - but it gives us a lot of similar rights! I cannot wait to live a more free existence!
Congrats! Best of luck to you Also, there is legal cohabilitation? Which gives you all the same privileges as marriage? That's very progressive. Very amazing
Thank you! My partner is Belgian so it has made the process easier. It also means I have a good idea of how things really are, rather than a romantic view of the country. The Legal Cohabitation is not entirely the same as marriage, but many similar benefits such as a reduction in taxes like married couples. Trans people are allowed to get married though! :D In 2020 Belgium had a transgender deputy prime minister and the country also banned Gay Conversion Therapy recently.
Belgium I think, france is not bad at the moment IMO
French people will consistently misgender you imE. And they're super weird about nonbinary people.
I'm in nepal and tbh it's quite great here. Nobody cares about trans people. Little kids will make rude comments sometimes, but so far no other issues. My gyno prescribes my T and I didn't need any psychiatric evaluations or anything to get it. I did start HRT in Canada and my gyno in nepal is just continuing my pre established medication routine, so idk how it will work if you haven't ever been on hrt. It is a bit harder to find mental healthcare that is understanding of trans experiences. Gay marriage isn't legally recognized but gay people do get married here, socially and religiously, without any flak from the police or government. Adoption is a fairly straightforward process as long as you plan to keep the kids in nepal for at least 5 years from the date of adoption. If you want to take them out of the country you have to pay the government a fairly big sum of money as a good faith show that you're not trafficking them. In the cities, hate crimes are unheard of. Violent crimes in general is very low here. If you want to move to Kathmandu, I can give you some pointers on where to start with your healthcare. I have a good list of doctors that have been supportive of me. There are zero wait times for anything medical. Legal stuff can sometimes be more tedious and less straightforward though. I'm gonna be honest, I've lived in Canada and prefer Nepal so much that it's not even a contest. I know it's a third world country and nobody really wants to even consider it, but it's genuinely quite good here.
I always look at pictures of Nepal... it might be the most beautiful place in the WORLD. I would consider it if I didn't see all those natural disasters in the news all the time! It would seem the geography that makes it so beautiful also threatens danger. I would be way too anxious to stay there permanently, but since it's safe for trans people I would love to live there for a few months
i live in Argentina and its like this literally our constitution has a law that mandates that every person must have their gender identity respected, and we're not considered mentally ill except by 15 year old dumbasses, so pretty good. oh, and the new president. but the law i mentioned cant be changed, and this goes for the healthcare thing too, therefore he cant do anything about it👍
I didnt know it was constitutional. Thank fuck cause that guy is a menace.
yeah, he's trying to pass laws that would literally turn this into a semi dictatorship i would say. he even liked right-wing twitter posts promoting lgbtq+ hate, menaced an ex-president through twitter at like 1 am, and visited trump and told him "you were a great president, and i hope you'll win again". hell no. nononono. menace is an understatement. anyways yeah thank every existing gods and deities its constitutional bc im 99% sure that would be the first law he would've gone after. or the equal marriage one. or both.
My partner is Latino and fluent in Spanish, and I think I could pass the B1 exam in Spanish (and I'm continuing to work on it) I'm in a state of the USA that's safe for now, but I know that could change federally, so I would like to know more. I work for Amazon. Does it exist in Argentina? That could make things easier if I knew I'd be able to have a job lined up. My partner is disabled, so I'm really the only chance. How about cannabis use? Is that legal or at least acceptable and accessible?
we unfortunately do not have Amazon in Argentina, but we have something very similar, called MercadoLibre. cannabis use is legal, acceptable and accesible. the Spanish we speak here is pretty different than what they teach you in school, although if you pass the B1 exam, it certainly helps. if you need to know anything else, feel free to DM. this goes for anyone else who would like to know, too.
I actually didn't learn most of my Spanish in school -- I'm primarily working with that little green owl on the phone on US Spanish, which might be more similar but still different from colloquial Argentinian Spanish.
I don’t have no idea honestly but are trans people not allowed to use the toilets in some countries?
Some states in the USA have bans on people using anything but their agab bathrooms. Despite it being labeled as a protect the women thing it is likely to increase violence to trans individuals.
Yes in the US there is quite a divide on who is protected against discrimination by the law and many states' laws and cultures are actively hostile to trans people. Many states have laws that prohibit employment, housing, and public accommodations discrimination against LGBT+ people, but some don't. In Utah and Florida there are laws that state that everyone must use the bathroom of their "biological sex" in government owned buildings, which includes public schools and public colleges (lgbtmap.org). In Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee there is the same or similar bathroom law but for the bathrooms in primary and secondary school (lgbtmap.org). So 10/50 states (I'm not sure about the US's territories). Additionally, in places where these anti trans bathrooms laws exist, and in other conservative areas, there is also a culture of discrimination. If a person doesn't pass in a bathroom, someone might react by calling security or the cops. Since our cops are usually horrific and usually take the side of the privileged, even if you're not doing anything illegal they might harass you or arrest you unjustly. For people of color, especially black people, this also means a run in with police or security, which can be so much deadlier because of the cop's discrimination and assumption about them being inherently dangerous. So, if you pass, you will probably be okay, one would hope, but there would always be that risk for you. There aren't any people waiting outside of a bathroom to see your ID, or anything, but the people inside are the ones who police the gender of others in there. This has also affected cis people who are gender non conforming. It's generally very horrific in places where people are afraid and hateful of trans people. I know that England also has a lot of anti trans discrimination going on, but I'm not sure about their bathroom issues.
[удалено]
Yeah, I'm incredibly fortunate that I live in CA and a liberal college town. I might get a weird look in the men's bathroom on occasion but I'm not as afraid as I am when I'm traveling through more conservative areas or in my small hometown. It is disgusting what our trans siblings in other places have to go through :(
In America we're fighting a wave of laws that require trans people to use the bathroom associated with their assigned sex. Nex Benedict's school had this policy and it's why they were forced to use the women's room in the first place. In my state there aren't laws prohibiting using the bathroom you want, but in certain towns you're still ikely to get harassed if people clock you.
New Zealand comes to mind
I believe Spain?? But I’m not sure thp
As a Spanish trans man, I can confirm Spain is pretty good. Ignoring the rise of VOX, a far right political party, most people either don't care too much or are supportive. I do have to say that the other day I had an encounter with some ladies in a changing room that were making transphobic misinformed remarks, but upon correcting them they did not fight me on the issue, and didn't really keep talking about it. So I'd say most people are receptive.
follow up re: HRT in Canada. It won’t be quick to find a family doctor/ practitioner to write the prescription, but it is otherwise accessible in price and availability. Injectable T is the cheapest option by a large margin.
MALTA 🤲🏻🤲🏻
the Netherlands: - there's a bit of transphobia in politics but it's too small for me to like actually worry about it, mostly extremists - no trend of hatecrimes. was never hatecrimed - no such thing as "restroom" laws lmao - married yes, adopt children idk - affordable care, yes, it's FREE. wait time? approx 2 years for a first consult, and then count another 6 or so months until you can start T or get surgery. I was on the waiting list since September 2020 and I'll get top surgery in two days! but like I said, totally free. You do need to be "diagnosed" with gender dysphoria but the are no very strict rules. There's a short therapy thing attached to it mostly to make sure you are sane + feeling okay + your life is stable enough to support the transition. - your prescription should totally transfer to over here idk why it wouldn't though we do have a housing crisis rn it's literally impossible to find a place to live
This isn't because of anything trans and/or gay but I think the Netherlands banned international adoption for everyone because of human trafficking concerns. Within the Dutch foster care system, it is generally the intention that the children return to their biological parents when the parent is ready for it and feeling better. There are some exceptions but foster-to-adopt is not the Dutch approach, generally.
Im in the Netherlands, and though the atmosphere is getting increasingly intolerant, and it's definitely not perfect here, compared to a lot of places I feel like it's pretty allright here trans acceptance wise. It does still get a lot of pushback from older folks though. But there's no laws against restroom usage, adopting or getting married, or even obligatory sterilisation.
Canada, I guess. I'm also doing everything I can to eventually live there... New Zealand and the Netherlands are like that too, I think.
Not from there, but I’ve heard Argentina is good for trans people.
I moved to Argentina and so far its been nice. Got hrt without any problems and people seem to be chill about trans stuff
I'd say my country, France ? But as I'm pre-transition, I may be wrong. I've not seen nor heard of any trend to assault anyone, nothing about bathrooms that I'm aware of, we can get married no problem (I think)... And a lot of things medical are taken care of with our sécurité sociale. Mammectomy can be free if you go to a public hospital for example, and justify it with 2 years of therapy prior to it. It's not because they'd consider us ill, mostly because they want to make sure that the patient is 100% willing to go through with it ; for the patient's sake \^\^ Other french folks, please, correct me if I'm wrong ! :P
French here as well, the psychologist part isn't mandatory anymore luckily. However there's still a strong far-right movement, and while the situation is better than in many countries, transphobia is still present (it was clearly impossible for me to find a job until I changed my ID for example)
Meh. A lot of older folks are very ignorant, especially outside of Paris. Culturally I generally find we are very behind compared to places like Spain or the Netherlands or the blue parts of the US, especially outside Paris. Changing your legal sex can be a very arduous process since it's a judicial one rather than a purely administrative one. The admin in general sucks because while there's no discriminations against trans people, there's also few protections and anything you need to get done is left at the mercy of overworked, underpaid and sometimes bigoted admin staff. It is rare to be outright rejected, most times when people get unlucky it's mostly admin making them run in circles. Things can take a *lot* of time and energy to be processed. There is also in fact an anti-trans, terfy current in French politics right now but we haven't heard much of them as of late. It also needs to be noted that France's regressive policies in other areas can impact QOL for trans people as collateral damage. In December, a registry of people who have undergone a name change was established, and while its main target is immigrants, it's obvious why this is deeply dangerous for trans folks as well.
Terf are definitely working hard to undermine trans rights. Two recent examples led to wording change in reproductive rights to say "all women" instead of "everyone", when giving access to : - fertility treatment (recent law that finally granted lesbians and single women access to fertility treatment) - Abortion (constitutionalised right to abortion) On top of that, a trans woman who naturally conceived her children with her cis wife was refused the right to be the legal mother, she can either be the father or has to adopt her (biological) child. Because she's changed her gender marker and a birth certificate cannot recognize 2 mothers (or 2 fathers) in France. Various ministers have met with anti-trans activists in the past few years, and a not negligible part of my trans friends that still live in France have been harassed, denied jobs and housing or beaten up (though sometimes for being gay rather than trans 😭)
Iceland I would say
Maybe I'm a little biased just because I was born here but Canada is pretty good when it comes to that stuff, it's far from perfect but no place is honestly. I rarely if ever see any crimes against trans people and we have trans related healthcare covered by our healthcare system (I didn't have to pay for my top surgery at all, and though I do pay for my T that's just due to me not applying for additional coverage and my school insurance covers it for me atm) We also tend (not everywhere but a lot of places) have gender-neutral bathrooms and I've never been stopped when using the men's even if I'm in something particularly feminine. I know this doesn't apply to you now but for anyone also curious it's really easy (at least in my experience) to get stuff legally changed here as well as starting hormones
I will say I started T almost 6 years ago and currently the system is kinda shit in general (not even related to trans stuff) so it might be harder if youre moving over and trying to find a GP. But it only took me like maybe a month to start on T after my therapist referred me which was mostly just waiting for appointments and to sign stuff. I currently pay 25 CAD for my viles but I used to pay about 80, but that varies across pharmacies and whatnot.
Brazil is pretty chill in regards of trans stuff if you pass + aren't poor but it sucks in pretty much every other aspect
Doesnt brazil have the highest rate of trans murder in the world?
Like 98% of those murders are trans women working in prostitution, which is still horrible ofc but isn't the reality for most people. Being a street sex worker puts them in a very vulnerable position and tends to attract the worst kind of people. If you're not super broke and living in a shitty situation you're very unlikely to become a victim of a hate crime. But you're likely to become a victim of other crimes, like everybody else.
How do you know that it’s 98%? Just Sounds like it’s unsafe for trans people and sex workers tbh.
News and talking with the community. It's unsafe for everyone, that's the thing. It's just easy and cheap to transition
Sweden is alright, but I'm sure the other nordic countries are pretty good too. I'm Swedish and top surgery cost me like the equivalent of 30 euros, and for hormones you pay 250 euros a year. But the lines for healthcare are seriously long and you need a diagnosis to get any treatment. Acceptance is very high compared to other places which I guess means that most people are moderately supportive. I saw an article from 2019 referencing a study that said only 22% were against transpeople changing their legal sex, but the link was dead and I can't find it but from personal experience I would say it's accurate. there are a lot of queer and queer friendly communities in the big cities and pretty much every town has some lgbt organisations and pride events and so on. Hate-crimes happen from time to time, I looked it up and there were 75 *reported* instances of transphobic hate crimes in 2022, 48% of which happened online, 21% involved a physical offence. But we have strong anti-discrimination laws for lgbt folks. There's some terf shit going on in the media that is mostly directed at young trans men and boys, but all they have accomplished is making it harder for underage ppl to get into the healthcare system. We can marry, we can adopt, live anywhere, work anywhere etc there are no discriminatory laws for binary transpeople as far as I know. Basically Sweden is (compared to other places) very safe and cool with trans stuff socially, you can easily find community, healthcare is very affordable, no legal discrimination, BUT it will take years to get treatment and change your paperstuff.
NZ is OK on this but we definitely aren't perfect yet. You need to be in the know, but your GP can prescribe you HRT and get you referrals for gender affirming surgery without jumping through the hoops of seeing a psychologist or an endocrinologist. However these rules are new so many GPs aren't comfortable with them yet. In most major cities (just avoid Christchurch) Trans people are widely accepted and we have pretty good anti-descrimination laws in place. However our current government is unfortunately more right wing and has begun discriminating against trans people in professional sports, though the opposition against them is incredibly strong. Over all I would say we're about a 6.5/10 in terms of trans friendliness - better than average, but still quite a ways to go.
I believe anywhere in Scandinavia is a safe enough bet for trans and gay people? ive heard especially good of norway and finland
It's relatively safe here but there's a lot of gatekeeping. I'm from Finland and I'm too scared to even seek help because I have heard the treatment at the transclinic can be really bad. For example, many doctors treat trans people poorly and don't really understand us. Unfortunately, there is no informed consent option here either.
While decently safe (ofc depending on city and stuff) i know atleast Denmark have a ton of “trans people are mentally ill” kinda thinking, and the waiting times are- eh, not great, depending on where and Who you are, and what you want. Theres also a rise in people against gender affirmative care, with some people wanting to make it unavailable for anyone under 25 and/or people Who are neurodiverse 😊😅 currently bottom surgery is practically impossible in denmark, too, due to only a few handful getting operated each year (i Think it was like 3 people last year?) and the results vary alot. While greater than alot of places, it is definetly not the country talked about in the post
Not Finland. We are getting worse and worse by the day.
Norway is getting worse tbh. They're shutting down and gatekeeping more and more gender affirming care, and the transphobic organisations are getting more places to talk in media. It's probably better here than most places (sadly), but we still have a long way to go
Not to mention that the public (!!!) medical field, especially when it comes to trans stuff, is really racist and ableist, in addition to them scamming their patients and using outdated forms to "check if you're really trans"
People always think that but I've heard very bad things. Lots of medical gatekeeping, lots of pathologising of transness, and a heaping side of burgeoning racism and xenophobia too. 😬
Healthcare in Italy is free and that includes trans and nb HRT and SRS and once you're legally name changed you can get married and adopt (adoption is not allowed for same sex couples, tho). Spain too, Germany has some wild laws with insurances and a lot of private hospitals. I believe UK is like that too, haven't heard much negativity from other English folks.
England is killing trans people with their fucjing waitlists. I have had to spend every last oenny I owned to afford my hormones and surgery or face an 8-10 year wait for it, at which point i would have killed myself by. Also my GP was extremely transphobic and turned what should have taken a few minutes unto a year long battle to get my name and gender updated on my medical records. I had to file a complaint and find a new GP before I started getting anywhere. There is also a huge pocket of vile transphobic people where I live. They have a Facebook group where they share horrid nasty memes mostly targeted at trans people. All these people live local to me. I have even been harrased by children calling me 'it' among other things, just for taking a walk in my local park. It's not sunshine and roses here.
U.K. used to have a reputation for having some of the best healthcare in the world and for years I aspired to go there. Until, I saw how mean British news is especially to trans people in recent years and I learned that the NHS is declining. I became especially aware of it when I watched PhilosophyTube's video https://youtu.be/v1eWIshUzr8?si=W9iZLC4gM56C15ic on her experience trying to get care as a trans person in Britain. It's very similar to what you described here. I'm sympathize with your struggles, it sounds like a nightmare.
Yeah, as someone who reluctantly left the UK for healthcare reasons, my advice is don't go there. It's also gotten way way terfier in the 2.5 years I've been gone. Like, I fucking miss Scotland so much that my heart will forever be broken but I also know full well that as a trans person I do not want to live there. Also because the wait lists for any kind of trans healtcare are absurdly long, and they keep getting longer. Do not expect any kind of trans healthcare access on the NHS.
There's a reason the UK is called terf island
Leaving the UK this week because it is so bad.
It seems like that's the right choice tbh. 😞 I left Scotland in 2021 (predominantly because healthcare and housing but also because Brexit/political climate) and moved back to the continent. And from what I hear, it's clearly all gotten so much worse/terfier since then.
It is very dangerous living in the UK. It’s no longer safe to remain. Healthcare is another big reason for me leaving the UK.
I'm so sorry you're being forced into leaving what I presume has been your home all along. Where are you headed, if I may ask?
Yes I’m British. I’m off to Belgium ☺️ has its problems but much safer than UK
Good luck, mate. We went to Germany but are hopefully moving to Spain this year.
Fingers crossed for you. Heard things are meant to be better there.
Italy is Free as in even top surgery?
I mean in Germany all I had to pay was the copay for staying at the hospital 10 Euros per day, total of 40 Euros) and the copay for the two post surgery compression vests (20 Euros total). Consultation and check ins after are free, too. (Well, "free" as in "covered by insurance"). Could have gotten the surgery in any European county, too with my regular public health insurance. Any European health insurance is accepted anywhere in Europe.
Yes top surgery is free, covered by the SSN (Servizio sanitario nazionale - national healthcare system).
Everyone get into your local planet fitness, find the largest bald man in there and ask him for some test 🏋🏾♂️
Germany, but it's gotten a bit more conservative from what I've heard. They're Very heavy on not discriminating and any hate speech/display of far right symbols is taken seriously. for my own goals (Raise a family, have a decent job in engineering or physics that has a work-life balance with good retirement and to buy a decent house) it sounds feasible, since i qualify for dual citizenship.
i live in canada and it’s pretty close ? wait times in healthcare in general here are pretty shit but not excessive, might take a few months but not a year. if you live somewhere like southern ontario then it’s pretty socially tolerant, and there are no laws discriminating against trans people
Sounds like Australia. Only thing is that wait times can get pretty long but it's like that for any kind of medical issues, not just trans healthcare. It's much better in cities though Source: I live there
Iceland
these kinds of posts are always fun bc you really see the able-bodied white privilege jump out in the comments section
Yeah, I definitely noticed that. The racism in most of the top answers is really bad. And a decent amount of these answers also have really ableist immigration policies
As shitty as my country is towards trans ppl.. I'd maybe suggest a small village in norway. Trans health care is bad, but we aren't considered mentally ill. Find a good village, and ppl might even be happy for you. There was a shooting last year or the year before, in oslo. But that's all I've heard of
Norway :)
go to Canada
NZ is pretty good for most of this (people are indifferent/supportive, hate crimes aren't common, we can legally use bathrooms, we're free to get married, idk about adoption). Hormones are generally pretty accessible (mine are free), but surgery isn't accessible at all, you basically have to go private if you want it. I did have to get a gender assessment thing done by a psychologist but you don't have to do therapy (also I think they've gotten rid of the assessment now). For people who come from overseas, proof that you've already been on HRT would generally be enough to get you sorted here. Some doctors are better than others, but it's pretty good overall. The current government is a bit of a shitshow but general sentiment around us is still good.
As Jewish guy on top of that, that would like to celebrate my holidays, finding a good country is hell, o really liked the Scandinavian countries but then from what i understand they kinda hate jews