CW: This post contains discussion of violence against trans people and people of colour, including healthcare discrimination, systemic disadvantages and murder. Please take care if these issues cause you distress.
For Pride Month 2025, we will be looking at various groups of people we support at Basis Yorkshire who are within the LGBTQ+ community and examine how stigma and discrimination affects them, as well as what we do to empower them and promote safety.
At Basis Yorkshire, we support people who sex work in Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield. We provide non-judgemental, free and confidential support for sex workers in all sectors of the sex industry including women who are street sex working. We advocate for the full decriminalisation of sex work on a local and national level.
Despite the fact that Black trans sex workers were at the forefront of LGBTQ+ liberation[1], they remain one of the most vulnerable communities today. The Trans Murder Monitoring 2024 report found that sex workers remain the most targeted group of all known occupations and 93% of the reported murders were of Black or Brown trans people.[2]
The intersection of race, gender identity and being a sex worker situates this community at the centre of structural and institutional racism, transphobia, misogyny, and whorephobia. Trans racialised sex workers sit at the intersection of at least three compounding forms of marginalisation, without even accounting for individual differences such as disability, chronic illness, neurodivergence, mental health issues, addiction and poverty. Furthermore, these issues often mean that the forms of sex work that trans sex workers of colour engage in are the most dangerous and stigmatised. As Tilly Lawless explains:
“The whorearchy is the hierarchy that shouldn’t – but does – exist in the sex industry, which makes some jobs within it more stigmatized than others, and some more acceptable…The whorearchy comes from both within and outside of the industry; non sex workers will view certain workers as dirtier/more disposable/less worthy of respect than others, and sex workers themselves will often throw other workers under the bus, in order to distance themselves from them and make themselves seem more respectable. It’s driven by assumptions and prejudice. While you will find people of all different races, backgrounds, genders etc in all different kinds of jobs within the sex industry, racist and classist assumptions feed into the whorearchy. For instance, a non-English speaking, immigrant WOC will be seen as “less valuable” than me (a white middle class woman) and further down in the chain of things. Often, more marginalized people will be forced to work in lower rungs, for example trans WOC often won’t be hired in brothels and so have to do street based sex work.”[3]
This layered discrimination results in poor healthcare, lack of social justice and a higher chance of experiencing violence, including murder.
Healthcare
The intersections of structural racism, anti-sex worker discrimination and a lack of trans discourse within healthcare creates a complex and challenging environment for trans sex workers of colour.
Negotiating healthcare as a trans person can be an incredibly difficult and dysphoric experience; it can feel very alien and usually involves frequent dead-naming and inappropriate questions over their trans status, even if irrelevant to the topic.
Some sex workers navigate healthcare systems more frequently due to sexual health needs and may feel unable to disclose their occupation due to fear of being ‘outed’ and the stigma associated with the profession. Trans sex workers have expressed concern that trans healthcare access and treatments can be jeopardised by being a sex worker or outing themselves as sex workers.[4] Some trans people have shared how they use sex work as a way to achieve gender-affirming care and fund their transitions, and yet this is then weaponised by healthcare professionals to deny them access to support.[5]
Ethnic and racial minorities experience extensive health inequalities and injustices.[6] Due to structural racism, there is a lack of research into specific areas including how outcomes may differ for ethnic minority in terms of maternity and newborns. The same research found GPs were less likely to refer ethnic minority patients to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme compared to white patients. [7] Furthermore, sex workers of colour have specifically shared their experiences being treated as vectors of disease by healthcare professionals, stigmatising treatment from mental health care services in particular, and a lack of recourse in challenging poor practice.[8]
This combined experience puts trans sex workers of colour at a higher risk as they might avoid important healthcare services or screenings altogether.
What can be done?
This Pride Month, we want to highlight liberation for all, which includes trans people, people of colour and sex workers.
We call for healthcare services to increase their awareness of the unique experiences faced by ethnic minority trans sex workers and advocate for increased inclusion.
We also advocate for services to NOT use the non-statutory ruling of the Supreme Court to exclude trans sex workers from accessing support (read our full statement on the supreme court ruling).
You can respond to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) consultation using TransActual’s guidance by 30th June 2025.
You can also write to your MP about the supreme court ruling using TransActual’s template as inspiration and write to your MP about decriminalisation of sex work using Decrim Now UK’s template. Please remember to personalise your submission.
How Basis Yorkshire can support
At Basis Yorkshire, we understand that communicating with health professionals can be a challenge. We can help to ensure that you see the right healthcare professional for your issue and support with negotiating appointments when necessary.
All our workers at Basis can make referrals and support you with accessing or registering with free healthcare services including sexual health, GP services, cervical screening, accident and emergency services, dentists, opticians, and access to vaccinations (such as for blood-borne viruses including Hep B).
We also work closely with Leeds Sexual Health to provide sexual health testing during our drop-in sessions and on our outreach.
If you would like more information about our sexual health support, you can contact us on our dedicated phoneline: 07710 304 306
If you need general support, please call the office on 0113 243 0036 (09:30am-4:30pm) Monday to Friday, via email: info-basis@basis.yorkshire.org.uk or make a referral for our services.
[1] https://time.com/5604224/stonewall-lgbt-sex-worker-history/
[2] https://tgeu.org/will-the-cycle-of-violence-ever-end-tgeus-trans-murder-monitoring-project-crosses-5000-cases/
[3] https://slutever.com/sex-worker-tilly-lawless-interview/
[4]https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/files/22961628/TransActions_A_Project_with_Trans_Sex_Workers.pdf
[5] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10066761/
[6] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9727011/
[7] https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/review-highlights-stark-ethnic-healthcare-inequalities-in-the-uk/
[8] https://nationaluglymugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Healthcare-and-Racialised-Sex-Workers-NUM-2024.pdf