Music, Coffey and Tears

This week we begin with a powerful piece from Bobbi Pickard of Trans in the City, exploring the rising tide of hostility against the trans community. Despite thousands of years of known trans existence, the UK and much of the world has turned against trans people—mirroring the tactics of the 1930s Nazis, who targeted a minority that couldn’t fight back. Now, the same deflection is happening again.We discuss the new EHRC guidance issued on 21st May, reinterpreting single-sex spaces following a 2025 Supreme Court ruling that decided—without evidence from biologists or the trans community—that for the purposes of the Equalities Act, there are only two sexes. (Originally withdrawn as illegal, the guidance has now been reissued.) We trace how, as we entered the 2020s, politicians began weaponising hatred against trans folk. Before this, trans people lived their lives without issue—no attacks in ladies’ loos or single‑sex spaces, welcomed in the WI and Girlguides, now banned.There is no choice in being born with gender dysphoria; you deal with it as best you can. Loving and supporting a child to grow as themselves should be the right thing, yet now the suicide rate among trans people is rising, and mental health struggles form as young trans people navigate a world that hates them for reasons they don’t understand. Imagine having the body opposite to what you know you are.Biology tells us that human makeup is not binary—like the stars, we have limitless variations. Intersex people are said to be as common as redheads, yet politicians in many countries have thrown them under the bus just to get at trans folk, especially trans women. Before European colonisers imposed their beliefs, indigenous peoples acknowledged a third gender. In the Americas, Two‑Spirit people were cherished as very special.Then we have the Shea Coffey break, followed by our Eurovision round‑up with Martin Spellacey. Join us for an episode that challenges, informs, and stands with the trans community.