“I ran away in heels and never got to go back for my trainers. Leaving home saved my life, but finding safety as a trans person is an uphill battle.”
Bea, a 19-year-old trans woman from a rural area in the North-East, always felt different. As a child, she was teased for acting more like a girl, but it wasn’t until she was 14 that she fully embraced her identity and came out as trans. Her timing, just before lockdown, made her incredibly vulnerable—isolated at home with a father who had never been abusive before but who quickly became violent and controlling.
Her father’s behaviour escalated in disturbing ways. He claimed that because Bea was now a girl, he had the right to treat her differently, leading to physical and sexual abuse. Trapped in an unsafe home, Bea attempted to take her own life. When she was released from a mental health unit, she had nowhere to go. Just weeks after turning 18, she found herself sleeping rough with a group of trans friends, trying to survive on the streets.
At times, Bea was able to stay with a friend on their sofa, but the friend had children, making space extremely limited. She applied for housing, but the council only offered her a mixed-gender youth hostel, which was deemed too unsafe for a trans woman. Left with no immediate options, she stayed with a cousin for three months while waiting for independent accommodation.
Eventually, she was given a small flat, but it was far from any LGBTQ+ or mental health support services. Isolated and grieving, Bea recently learned that one of her trans friends who had been sleeping rough with her had died by suicide, while another had gone missing. Though she now has a roof over her head, Bea still struggles with the loneliness and trauma of her past, making the fight for stability an ongoing battle.