Transcend Borders supports TNBI (Trans, Non-Binary and Intersex) asylum seekers in the UK by raising £500 grants per person through not-for-profit variety show fundraisers. We also aim to create safe spaces for TNBI people, TNBI migrants, and QTIPOC, addressing gaps in trans organising by centering QTIPOC in our shows and organising. Through this, we aim to foster community-building and mobilisation, through bringing together like-minded marginalised people.
To date, we’ve hosted variety show fundraisers, and our upcoming fundraiser (May 30th) will be an all-poetry event. In service of platforming racially minoritised queer
individuals, our events feature exclusively QTIPOC lineups. We plan to diversify our events, including daytime activities like board games and bingo, as well as collaborative events with other pro-migrant, trans-centered organisations.
Since our launch in March 2024 and after only four events (as of early May 2025), we’ve already raised £3176, given out to 6 grantees and counting, which is a great, positive change to people's lives, especially when facing the harsh realities of being trans and seeking refuge / asylum in the UK. Read more about the need for our work, your support and this community below:
At Transcend Borders, we support Trans, Non-Binary and Intersex (TNBI hereafter) refugees and asylum seekers (RAS hereafter) in the United Kingdom by raising money for gender-affirming care.
People who are at the intersection of seeking refuge/asylum and being TNBI experience compounded discrimination and structural oppressions in the UK, making it much harder for them to access financial and medical support. Asylum seekers in the UK often do not have access to the right to work or the social resources necessary to raise funds for their gender-affirming care. Furthermore, many people seeking asylum in the UK do not have access to public funding. Most asylum seekers receive as little as £7 daily to cover essential living costs such as food, travel, and clothing. (Source:
https://asylummatters.org/campaigns/support-rates/). Gender-affirming care procedures and hormone therapy are costly, which only makes accessing this care all the more difficult for those seeking refuge in the UK.
Additionally, many trans asylum seekers are also isolated from family, friends, and community, compounding their need for communal aid and support. Brighton is a predominantly white area, especially in LGBTQ+ spaces, which makes it difficult for queer, trans, and intersex people of color (QTIPOC) to foster community. Therefore, Transcend Borders seeks to create a sense of community for TNBI refugees and QTIPOC. We do this by hosting community events that center the QTIPOC experience, platforming exclusively QTIPOC artists and performers.
One of our core aims is to create an inclusive space which builds community for TNBI people, QTIPOC and RAF. We hold border-abolitionist, leftist, ant-white supremacist, de-colonial and queer & trans-liberatory ideologies and messaging at the core of our organization, seeking to aid in community building and movement building. We aim to transcend borders, the gender binary and all other oppressive and subjugating systems.