This is a collection of wholesome, insightful, educational and beautiful things worth sharing.

(Please be aware that some of these are behind a paywall.)

Pronoun resources

• Pronouns Matter
• International Pronouns Day – third Wednesday in October

Gender resources

Organisations

UK based (national and regional):

• Mermaids Charity – helping gender-diverse kids, young people and their families since 1995
• The Tavistock & Portman Gender Identity Clinic (GIC)
• Gendered Intelligence – a registered charity that exists to increase understandings of gender diversity and improve trans people’s quality of life.
• GenderGP online gender clinic – worldwide transgender health and wellbeing services
• FFLAG – a national voluntary organisation and charity dedicated to supporting families and their LGBT+ loved ones
• YAY! Cornwall (Young and Yourself) – the youth group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Questioning young people
• Norfolk LGBT+ Project – a registered charity, providing support, information and advice to all age groups that is relevant to the health and wellbeing of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Norfolk and Waveney since 2007.
• Oasis Norfolk – a self help and support group for trans-people and their partners, family and friends.

USA based:

• The Trevor Project – suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit organization for LGBTQ+ young people
• Navigating Gray – a Nonprofit Organization located in Southern California whose mission is to support LGBTQIA+ youth and their families
• Raising Zoomer – created by Kyl & Brent, about their gender-creative parenting approach

Infographics:

• The Gender Unicorn and other graphics by transstudent.org

Influencers:

• Alok Vaid-Menon – poet, comedian, public speaker, and actor. Find them on their website, on Facebook, and Instagram.
• Jeffrey Marsh – Find them on their website, on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Groups:

• Support Network for Parents of Trans Kids Facebook group by Cassie Brighter
• For Cis Spouses & Partners of Trans Folk Facebook group by Cassie Brighter
• Parents of transgender adults Facebook group by Ange de Lumiere
• You Might Wanna Learn More About Trans People Facebook group by Evey Winters

Activists, advocates and educators:

• Katy Jon Went – writer, commentator, educator, keynote and conference speaker, and activist, on social justice, equality, diversity & inclusion (JEDI or DEI), intersectionality, politics & culture, language, literature, history & social sciences, religion & philosophy, LGBTIQ+, sex and gender, mental health and wellbeing, human rights, DASV, photography, and many more things besides. Find Katy’s Fifty Shades of Gender podcast episode here.
• Cassie Brighter – writer, public speaker, educator and group facilitator with a focus on diversity and inclusivity. Also find her on medium.com. Find Cassie’s Fifty Shades of Gender podcast episode here.
• Yas Necati (now Kaan K) – find their writing on gal-dem.com. Find their Fifty Shades of Gender podcast episode here.
• Evey Winters and her You Might Wanna Learn More About Trans People group. Find Evey’s Fifty Shades of Gender podcast episode here.
• Chris Talbot-Heindl – a queer, trans nonbinary, triracial (white, Japanese, and Indigenous) artist, educomics creator, and nonprofit laborer trying to build spaces ready to celebrate when they turn up authentically. Find Chris’s Fifty Shades of Gender podcast episode here.

Books:

• Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
• The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye
• Jessica Kingsley Publishers have a wide range of books on sexuality and gender diversity, including books about gender diversity for children.
• Raising Them: Our Adventure in Gender Creative Parenting by Kyl Myers

Films, shorts & documentaries:

• Disclosure – a Netflix documentary with Laverne Cox. In this documentary, leading trans creatives and thinkers share heartfelt perspectives and analysis, about Hollywood’s impact on the trans community. 1 hr 47 min
• Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth – one trans man’s pioneering quest to fulfil an age-old desire: to start his own family. This is the story of the dad who gave birth.
• Austin Unbound: A Deaf Journey of Transgender Heroism – Austin is deaf and transgender, but identifies as a straight man. After top-surgery, he will stop binding and breathe freely. His journey is an inspiration to many, his self awareness, humor, and personality long recognized and honored in his community.
• What Katy Did documentary – an intimate account of the joys, sorrows, thoughts and dreams of Katy, a transgender person from Norwich. 25 min

Intersex resources

Intersex organisations and activists:

• IntersexUK – British NGO-Human Rights Defenders educating & consulting. A child’s right to bodily autonomy. A families right to support. Find them online, on Facebook or Twitter
• interACT – raising intersex visibility, empowering young intersex advocates and promoting laws and policies that protect intersex youth. Find them online, on Facebook or Twitter
• Evolve – a local group (Norwich, UK) for transgender, genderqueer, gender-questioning and intersex youth aged 11-25. Find them online or on Facebook.
• Intersex Human Rights Australia – (formerly Organisation Intersex International Australia or OII Australia) is a national body by and for people with intersex variations. IHRA is here for all people with innate variations of sex characteristics and our families.
• Mx. Anunnaki Ray Marquez – intersex activist. Find him on his website and on Facebook. Watch his TEDx: “Born Intersex: We are Human!”

Groups:

• INTERSEX and Intersex Haven – global Facebook groups for Intersex people
• Intersex Friends And Families – global Facebook group for Intersex allies

Films, shorts & documentaries:

• Stories of Intersex and Faith – caught in the crossfire at the intersection of medicine, politics, and religion, perfectly healthy intersex children are being surgically altered to look more like typical girls and boys. Surgeries and hormone replacements are begun before children can consent causing physical and psychological harm. These procedures have been identified as Human Rights Violations by the United Nations but continue in the United States every day. Uncovering the truth about their bodies, five intersex people break the silence about their physical differences. Coming from Christian and Jewish families they show how religion can and has been a tool to support secrecy and surgeries but how their own faith has also helped them find healing, courage, and hope.
• Who I Am Not – Sharon-Rose Khumalo, a South African beauty queen, plunges into an identity crisis after finding out she is intersex. In her quest to deal with gender dysphoria, she needs the guidance of somebody just like her. The only person who will help is Dimakatso Sebidi, a masculine presenting intersex activist who turns out to be her complete opposite. The two parallel but divergent stories offer an intimate look at the struggle of living in a male-female world, when you are born in-between.
• FREE TO WATCH: Medicine’s Fixation on the Sex Binary Harms Intersex People | A Question of Sex, Episode 2 – “normalizing” infants’ and children’s genital appearance to match a sex assigned in early age isn’t medically necessary and can negatively impact quality of life.

Articles:

• What is intersex? {Intersex Society of North America}
• Intersex population figures {Intersex Human Rights Australia}
• How Medicine’s Fixation on the Sex Binary Harms Intersex People {scientificamerican.com}
• An intimate introduction to an intersex life and Intimate intersex adventures – part 2 {Intimata}

Intersex variations & related terms:

• Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
• XY gonadal dysgenesis (Swyer syndrome)
• Klinefelter Syndrome (47,XXY)

Podcast episodes:

Episode 5: SARAH CORKE – Intersex, non-binary [go to episode page]

Episode 20: ELA XORA – Transgender woman, anti Intersex Genital Mutilation activist [go to episode page]

Episode 53: LOR – Intersex, non-binary, demiboy, bigender [go to episode page]

Episode 69: ZELDA – Intersex, trans-adjacent, disabled [go to episode page]

Episode 104: JASON – Intersex, transgender (trans man), heterosexual, neurodiverse [go to episode page]

Religious resources

Other podcasts:

• Episode 9. QUEER FREEDOM: How can we be both held and free? on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast
• Transgender Woman Talking – a podcast by Esther Loewen, our 68th podcast guest. Find her episode on the Fifty Shades of Gender podcast here, and her spouse’s episode here.

Other:

• The Reformation Project – Advancing LGBTQ Inclusion in the Church
• Gender Diversity in Classical Jewish Texts (PDF)

Miscellaneous resources

Videos:

• Shrub Dryad: Teach Your Kids About Sex and Gender! – 27 min
• Ponderful: “Gender Critical” is Not Feminist & Here’s Why – 1 hr 20 min
• Queer Britain series with Riyadh Khalaf (episode 6 features Norwich and Norwich people). Find it on YouTube and iPlayer.

Other podcasts:

• Episode 74. ALOK: What makes us beautiful? What makes us free? on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast – 1 hr 5 min
• Episode 75. ALOK: How do we interrupt trauma? How do we heal? on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast – 40 min

Articles:

• Is your partner, child, parent or friend transitioning, or questioning their gender? {by Esther of Fifty Shades of Gender}
• Against the binary: How sex can make me feel seen as a trans person {gal-dem.com}
• 10 Societies That Recognize More Than Two Genders {listverse.com}
• Trans exclusion in sports: a discriminatory and erroneous tradition {Genes to Genomes website}
• The XX & XY Lie: Our Social Construction of a Sex and Gender Binary {Medium}

About hormone/puberty blockers:

• Q&A: Understanding the High Court Hormone Blockers Judgment With Director of Legal and Policy, Lui Asquith
• Hormone Blockers and Trans Children
• Debunking the myths around puberty blockers for trans kids

About death and funerals:

• Even In Death Non-Binary People Are Being Robbed Of Their Identity by Yas Necati (now Kaan K) {Huffington Post}
• Why I wrote a guide to funeral planning for Queer people by Ash Hayhurst {ceremonymatters.org}
• Transfesto: Gendered Intelligence and The Corpse Project explore what happens to the body after death, and specifically how the trans or gender variant body is treated

Cass Report 2024:

• ‘Let trans teens have the agency to transition’ by Edalia Day
• ‘Mermaids’ response to The Cass Review – In Depth’ by Mermaids Charity
• ‘Opinion: The Cass Review and Trans Exclusionism’ on Uncommon Scents Blogspot
• ‘The Cass Review: Cis-supremacy in the UK’s approach to healthcare for trans children’ by Cal Horton

Intersectional:

• Landback – a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands.

Other:

• Queer Podcasts: All your LGBTQIA+ podcasts in one place!
• Queer menopause: because menopause happens to PEOPLE
• Out on the Page: a catalyst for change, to connect, develop and promote LGBTQ+ writers and their writing
• The Queer Funeral Guide (PDF) by Ash Hayhurst

Interested in booking Esther for an allyship workshop for your business?

Find out more information on the ALLYSHIP WORKSHOP page.