I grew up in a country where gay and trans rights do not exist and where people in those communities are heavily ostracised and treated like they're crazy. No legal recognition, no means of transitioning, no posting about it on social media, nothing

I moved to the UK nearly 8 years ago to start living my life, and the UK is... well. I'll start off by saying that it's infinitely better about trans people than where I come from. But I don't think it's good about trans people on the whole.

'Legal' transition only matters for the terms you are referred to in legal documentation around marriage/parenthood, and whether or not you need to tell the tax body your AGAB. A name change (which includes your title) is trivial. To fix the other stuff, you have to get letters from doctors and fill out a form and pay a fee and wait a while for some mysterious council to decide if you're trans enough. I think most people don't bother.

Medical transition is very inaccessible, and I suspect I'm privileged in that I got through the waitlist back when it was a few years for an appointment, and not basically indefinite. Doctors agreeing to actually prescribe your HRT after that entire dance is hit or miss, although the majority would continue to prescribe patient who has already been on it for a while, in my experience anyway.

The UK is also a bit insane on anti-trans media. That's the only thing I didn't have to deal with back home, lol (because trans people are not recognised or talked about) I can't see a reason for being under the media's crosshairs than being an easy scapegoat for the ruling political party to distract voters from real systemic issues that actually need fixing.