‘It has never been tougher to be trans than in 2025’: mental health app Voda CEO on UK’s anti-trans climate (EXCLUSIVE)
Opinion: Jaron Soh, co-founder of LGBTQIA+ mental health app Voda, points out the "deceptiveness of anti-trans rhetoric that utilises a language of compassion to oppress trans communities"
By Jaron Soh
It has never been tougher to be trans than in 2025.
Trans people, particularly trans women, face much higher rates of violence and discrimination, with the Office for National Statistics research finding that trans people are twice as likely to experience crime compared to their cis counterparts.
Yet, despite the higher risks of harassment and assault that trans people face, certain media outlets, anti-trans activists and advocacy groups continue to weaponise a language of care, disingenuously framing restrictive policies as protective measures, whilst taking away the rights of trans people to access healthcare, legal protection and supportive services.
What do I mean by “weaponising” a “language of care”? I’m referring to how recent policies have often been done under the misleading rhetoric of protection: be it to supposedly protect women, children, or even trans people themselves. Yet, even though they are framed in a language of compassion, they often harm the very individuals they claim to protect.
Supreme Court ruling sparks real-world harm for trans people
The recent Supreme Court ruling regarding the Equality Act clarified that the definition of a “woman” will exclusively refer to sex assigned at birth, even for those who hold a Gender Recognition Certificate. The court emphasised that the ruling will not diminish important protections for trans people under the Equality Act. Lord Hodge said, “We counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not.”
Yet, anti-trans groups loudly cheered the decision.
Days after, the practical implications on trans people would be starkly different. The British Transport Police announced changes requiring that trans women be now searched by cis policemen as they would now need to be searched by their sex as assigned at birth, immediately raising concerns on dignity and safety for all trans people.
Public space access is becoming impossible for many trans people
It seems that the act is now being interpreted to exclude trans women from accessing women’s toilets, and for trans men, it seems they would not be able to use men’s toilets, nor would they be allowed into women’s toilets. Lady Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) stated, “But I think the law is quite clear that if a service provider says we’re offering a women’s toilet, that trans people should not be using that single-sex facility.”
Oh, but what about gender-neutral toilets?
Under the Tory government, there was a crackdown on new gender-neutral toilets being built, and it doesn’t look like there is any indication of new gender-neutral toilets being built now or in the future.
“Society is now effectively barring most trans people from public life”
The likely outcome is that society is now effectively barring most trans people from most of public life, by severely restricting their freedom to access public spaces with safety and dignity. To anyone reading this who isn’t trans: have you ever gone by a day in your public life without using a public restroom?
The safety threats that all women – cis women and trans women – face are overwhelmingly from cis men. Yet, the ruling continues to feed damaging transphobic narratives that further stigmatise trans people, rather than genuinely protecting anyone.
We have to speak up and point out the hypocrisy that the rollbacks of trans people’s human rights are being done under the guise of care and compassion. The system is continuing to strip trans people of their sense of safety, yet the ongoing media and political narrative continues to frame these actions as protective.
The rhetoric regarding the Supreme Court ruling is not a standalone incident.
The Tavistock clinic closure was publicly framed as improving care but yet has left thousands of vulnerable young trans people stranded on lengthy waitlists, without timely access to care.
The Cass Review promised enhanced standards of care, yet the outcome was that the review was used to justify restrictions on puberty blockers and further limited access under claims of safety, with Amnesty raising concerns on how the review is now appropriated by anti-trans activists to spread “misinformation and myths about healthcare for trans young people”.
History repeats itself through harmful ‘safeguarding’ narratives
This repeated gaslighting – promising help, but in actuality not delivering much-needed services, or at worse, potentially delivering harm – is not new. Historically, we’ve seen similar narratives play out for LGBTQI+ communities.
Harmful conversion therapy practices were initially billed as a compassionate attempt to “cure” LGBTQ+ people under a language of care, yet caused profound psychological trauma, with Galop finding that 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ people and over a third of trans people in the UK have been subjected to these harmful practices.
Section 28, enacted in 1988, prohibited teaching homosexuality as something normal under the premise of safeguarding children from supposed “indoctrination”, with Prime Minister Thatcher saying that children were “being cheated of a sound start in life”. Despite its eventual repeal in 2003, section 28’s harmful legacy continues to persist years on.
Recently, during his time as prime minister, Rishi Sunak demanded that children must not be taught about gender identity in schools, mirroring a similar return to section 28.
‘The biggest source of poor mental health for trans people is the lack of social acceptance’
Trans people, like all of us, deserve their fundamental rights, safety, and to be accepted by society. Through Voda’s work in interfacing with thousands of trans people, we believe that the latest ruling will undoubtedly worsen mental health outcomes for an already incredibly marginalised group.
At Voda, our research via the State of Trans+ Mental Health Report 2024 highlighted that the biggest source of poor mental health for trans people (80.4%) is the lack of social acceptance, which does not come as a surprise given rising anti-trans sentiments in the UK.
‘We must call out and reject narratives that weaponise a language of care’
We need to stop this insidious use of protective language. It is not just confusing; it’s harmful. It makes trans people question their reality, it makes allies hesitant to speak up, and it gives oppressors a deceptive moral high ground. It undermines the very notion of genuine care and support.
We must be clear: trans people deserve genuine compassion, care and support. To do that, we must first call out and reject narratives that continue to weaponise a language of care for women, children, and trans people.
Jaron Soh is the co-founder and CEO of Voda, the LGBTQIA+ mental health app designed by leading LGBTQIA+ psychotherapists and clinical psychogists, and currently serves over 35,000 users across the LGBTQIA+ community. Jaron was included in the STEM category of the 2024 Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley list.