Hi!

This May, I am running the 2026 Edinburgh Half Marathon for Equality Network! This incredible charity fights legal battles to secure protections for LGBTQ+ people at the national level and runs community initiatives to combat discrimination and promote inclusion at the local level. I wouldn't run 13 miles for many things, so you should probably take this seriously.

I chose this charity for obvious reasons (see Girlfriend), but also because of one instance in particular. This autumn, when I was trying to cancel the Virgin wifi router for the flat I was moving out of, I got into an argument with a telecom rep about politics. This argument somehow devolved into a 30 minute debate about transgender rights in Scotland (partially my fault, mainly his). Though this rep had never met a trans person, he was indignantly convinced they were usurping sports, politics, and the economy.

In reality, only 1% to 2% of the US and 0.5% of the UK identify as transgender. A even smaller portion of college athletes (0.002%) and Olympians (0.001%) are trans. No correlation has been found between allowing transgender people to access sex-segregated spaces based on their gender identities and any increase in crime rates. Somehow, though, this small group has been the target of ceaseless media vilification and legislative attacks. We've seen this before, though: politicians finding any marginalized group at whom to point fingers of blame for their political failings. It also helps that transphobia is just a new way for people to proliferate sexism and homophobia because those things aren't "politically correct" anymore.

This ambush isn't helping anyone. In 2025, the U.K. dropped from its first-place ranking as the most LGBTQ+ friendly country in Europe in 2015 to 22nd place (in part because of the recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court that transgender women do not fall under the female “sex” category of the 2010 Equality Act and therefore cannot claim its protection). Violence against women and girls is also on the rise in Britain. Similar attacks on transgender, women's, and queer rights are being waged all around the U.S., spearheaded by conservatives who strangely do not mention women’s rights in any other facet of their political agendas. Weird! It's almost like it was never about women. The transphobia we're witnessing today is so clearly emblematic of homophobia and sexism. This is truly everyone's fight.

For these reasons (which I have elucidated not-so-succinctly...sorry!), I will specifically be raising money for the Equality Network's Scottish Trans division. Trans people were crucial in the fight for gay, lesbian, and bisexual rights that I often take for granted today, and now it's our turn to fight for their protection.

I would be so grateful if you could take the time to donate to this cause. It's one I'm very proud to be running for!

Also, if you're looking for some books to read about the trans experience, below are some I'd recommend!

"How to Be a Girl" by Marlo Mack

"Bad Habit" by Alana S. Portero

"Idlewild" by James Frankie Thomas

"Pageboy" by Elliot Page

(Sorry for the subtle Goodreads plug, and please donate x!)

Xo,

Gwynne