UK-based initiative Trans+ History Week has returned for its third year, launching its powerful annual campaign. Taking place from May 4 to 10, it is bigger than ever with a bold national campaign, new stories, flagship events and cross-party support.

Trans+ History Week 2026 comes at a pivotal time for the community in the UK. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is due to publish a revised Code of Practice following the Supreme Court’s exclusionary ruling on the legal definition of ‘woman’ just over a year ago.

In light of this, campaigners have been putting increased pressure on the government to secure fundamental rights. Recently, the Crime and Policing Bill was amended to make hate crime based on LGBTQ+ identities an aggravated offence, and it was ensured that the impending ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy’ would be trans inclusive. Campaigners have also been urging officials to listen to trans+ voices when it comes to healthcare.

Despite these successes, the Supreme Court ruling has posed several issues for trans, non-binary and gender diverse people, including an increasingly politicised media and policy landscape. According to a recent study from TransActual, 99% of respondents said that UK media coverage of trans+ lives has harmed their mental health, 96% said it has changed how strangers treat them, and 91% say it has changed how their families treat them.

These findings are the focus of Trans+ History Week’s national campaign, entitled Reflections, which invites people to explore and be inspired by the often-erased history of trans identities and communities. It is built around water: a surface for reflection, a reminder that even the smallest ripples shape what comes next, and a metaphor for how the community has shifted, adapted and always found a way through. 

 

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The campaign runs from April 30 to May 10 in out-of-home sites, including Liverpool Central Station, Manchester’s Hotel Football, Brighton’s Churchill Square, Newcastle Haymarket, London’s Boxpark Wembley, and Edinburgh Towers, as well as in UK publications.

There is also an immersive installation at Outernet London, where evocative headlines sit beneath a calm bed of water, each revealed by a falling droplet that sends a ripple across the space. Each headline connects with long-form journalism on the Trans+ History Week hub at QueerAF.

The two organisations have additionally teamed up to commission 21 trans+ creatives to author, illustrate and produce original stories for publication across the week. Topics include gender diversity in pre-colonial Philippines, the UK’s first symposium on trans+ healthcare, and explorations of the identities of several historical figures.

There will be a range of other activities taking place throughout the week, including two flagship events in London.

Marty Davies, Founder and Director of Trans+ History Week, said: “Trans+ history runs deep, and it runs through everything. In calm waters and rough tides, Trans+ communities have always found a way — and we will keep finding it: fighting for our dignity, our rights, our community, and our right to simply exist.”

“Trans+ History Week is about telling that story, on our own terms – that matters more now than ever. In the face of erasure, Trans+ people have had to discover and claim our own history, making ourselves visible and refusing to disappear. I’ve been heartened to see tremendous allyship grow across sectors in response, as more and more people recognise the injustice our community is facing for what it is.”