Trans Activism

I’m Kes Otter Lieffe. I’m an author of queer speculative fiction author, writing from a working-class, chronically ill, transfeminine perspective. I’ve been a grassroots community organiser for over twenty years. Read more about my work here.

This page has information on some of the trans activism / solidarity projects I’ve been co-ordinating recently – Beyond Visibility. Get Home Safe. Everyday Trans Solidarity.

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Kes Otter Lieffe, Author of utopian trans speculative fiction novels

Get home safe – a donation system for people at risk

For marginalised people, community participation is an essential part of survival and attending events can be an important part of that. Unfortunately, many people who attend events, parties and workshops by public transport are at risk, for example trans women/trans-feminine people, people with disabilities and BIPOC among others.

I created Get-home-safe in 2019 in collaboration with various nightlife events and venues in Berlin. The project was featured in Siegesäule, Europe’s largest LGBT magazine (article in German).

Get-home-safe guide English

Get-home-safe guide German

Check out an example at a community centre in Berlin

Beyond visibility – a solidarity series for trans prisoners

“Visibility is profoundly complicated. When I think of visibility I think of incarceration: the populations of trans women made invisible by society, hidden away behind bars, at risk from both visibility and invisibility. Too visible to be safe, too invisible for the mainstream to pay any attention.” Kes Otter Lieffe, SWARM conference, 2019

Isolation has become a part of life for many over the last two years. Incarcerated trans people know it all too well and receiving letters and cards can be a lifeline to a caring community.

Beyond Visibility has become an annual solidarity event on Trans Day of Visibility, writing letters to queer and trans people in prison and has involved collaborations with aequa, Books Beyond Bars UK, LGBT Books to Prisoners and Solidarity Apothecary.

After releasing my first novel, I worked with LGBT Books to Prisoners and Books Beyond Bars to get several hundred copies of the book to trans folk in prisons. During this campaign I received hundreds of letters from incarcerated trans women and, in March 2020, decided to organise an in-person letter writing session in Berlin for Trans Day of Visibility.

Berlin went into lockdown just weeks before the event so we moved it online and the event became international with over fifty people attending, including representatives from the groups above giving information about their work and the situation of trans folk in prison.

Decriminalised Futures, London

Everyday Trans Solidarity – a social media education series

Sometimes activism can feel like a big challenge – and it often is – but it can also be something we do regularly to show up for each other. Here are some simple ways people can show solidarity with trans people (and others) each and every day.

Thanks so much to Charlie for creating these beautiful images.
Feel free to share these images with a tag to this website (https://otterlieffe.com/) and Charlie’s instagram.
These images were posted on aequa’s instagram during October 2021, you can also repost from there.

Check out aequa’s instagram
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Meeting someone at risk in a public place? Be on time (or even early). Don't make them wait!
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Respect people's pronouns. They/them, she/her, he/him.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Solidarity isn't about getting public rewards. Solidarity work isn't about you and it shouldn't be about looking good or earning social capital. Be ready to do invisible work.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Offer to go with your friends to their doctor's appointment. Time and companionship are powerful resources.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Stay humble. Be aware of your privileges and assumptions. Stay open to learning.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Food shopping. Food is a pretty basic need but just leaving the house can be difficult. Passing and risk are things many of us are calculating every time we leave the house and that can be too much sometimes. Bringing groceries for your friend or ordering them something in can make a huge difference.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Follow through. Overpromising usually causes more problems than doing nothing. Be real about what you can offer and then do it. Follow it through and don't wait to be chased.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Listen to trans people. We are the experts on our own lives
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Let us pee in peace. Gender-variant people may not match the signs on restroom doors. If there no all-gender bathrooms available, offer to accompany a trans person to the bathroom in a buddy system so they're less vulnerable.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Respect confidentiality. If someone has shared their gender identity with you, don't tell others. Outing someone without permission can have devastating consequences in a world that can be intolerant of gender differences.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Looking for clothes in shops divided into 'men' and 'women' can be difficult for many of us. Be sensitive, offer to accompany us, even stand guard outside the changing room if it's needed.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Don't tolerate disrespect. Interrupt misgendering and belittling comments or jokes.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Pay us. We spend an extraordinary amount of time educating cis people and making their lives more interesting. So pay us for our work, our education, our awesomeness. Centre our voices and needs. Step back so that we can step forward.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Offer to help out with admin. Administration is extra complicated for trans people and just engaging with phone calls and state bureaucracy can be a nightmare. Offer to come with us to meetings. Help out with paperwork or even just sit with us while we work through it. Cake can be helpful too!
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Do the work. Many cis people want to be more trans aware, run more trans-inclusive projects, increase their team's competency to work with and for trans people. This is awesome but it takes work. Building competency is a process not a destination that can be reached after a weekend or a couple of hours.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Mobilise your resources. Create an equitable distribution of wealth and power.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Check in with people especially around big holidays and birthdays. Not everyone has affirming families.
Everyday Trans Solidarity image by Charlie, and trans author, Kes Otter Lieffe. Text reads: Everyday Trans Solidarity. Getting home safely. Trans people tend to be more at risk travelling than others. If your friend is at risk, offer to accompany them home, call them a cab. Have then text when they arrive home.