Notices by goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)

I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset.

In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia.

In 2005 I started medical transition. For the state to recognise this I had to submit to standards of "care" which were humiliating, degrading and which placed me at risk of violence.

But I did it "by the book"

As I did it "by the book", the NHS agreed to reregister me as female, which makes sense because my anatomy now is.

In 2007 I had sex reassignment surgery. This had to be signed off by two mental health professionals, "by the book", and it was.

In 2008 I applied for gender recognition. This involved signing a statutory obligation, stating that I promised, BY LAW, to live fully as female for the rest of my life. As this was done, "by the book", the government promised that it would treat me as such.

Its first act as treating me as female was to annul our marriage because it was a same sex marriage and those were not allowed.

The state then reissued my birth certificate, correcting the "mistake" it had originally made when it recorded me as male, "by the book".

In 2009 Sylvia and I married for the second time, in a same sex civil partnership, which was done "by the book", because the state regarded me as female and I was bound by law to be female.

In 2013 we married again, because the state decided that same sex marriage was in fact allowed after all. This was done, "by the book". Despite having been married for 12 years, we had to submit ourselves to individual questioning to prove our relationship was genuine, "by the book".

In April of 2025 the state turned round and told me that I had been mistaken. That it never regarded me as female. That I was male the whole time. That the marriage it annulled because it was a same sex marriage was never a same sex marriage (but it stays annulled). That the civil partnership in 2009 never really happened because "opposite sex" civil partnerships were not allowed in 2009.

And that the legal obligation I have to live as female for the rest of my life, which I signed and gave up my marriage for, is still in effect but also if I keep following it, I am breaking the law and subject to arrest. As it's still valid, presumably if I don't keep following it, I am also breaking the law and subject to arrest.

The law of the land simultaneously requires me to be both a man and a woman and if I do either then I am breaking the law and subject to arrest.

At every stage I did what the state asked me to, even though it was humiliating, degrading and cruel.

And it kept moving the goalposts, and reneging on the agreements it made, whilst continuing to hold me to them even when they are now mutually contradictory.

Apparently this is "all my fault" and I should have known that this would be the consequences of my actions when I started medical transition 2 decades ago.

Perhaps you can now appreciate why we are upset?

You know how neurotypical people talk about how they make and hold eye contact?

It’s a lie. They do no such thing. I can do it on ADHD meds and if you don’t look away it really freaks them out.

Last year Zoe and I commenced operation “Oui Oui Baguette” to move our boat, Scarlet, from Gosport to La Rochelle in France. This was interrupted by a small engine fire which left us stranded in the Brittany port of Quiberon over winter to make repairs.

Anyway, we moved the boat to La Rochelle a month ago. Today we commence “Operation Churro”. We plan to leave La Rochelle shortly and in a single leg of 36-40 hours in the Bay of Biscay arrive at Hendaye on the French/Spanish border.

The orcas were attacking boats in this area about a month ago but since then seem to have moved west and are now heading south from Galicia to Lisboa so we should be safe from them (fingers crossed). Weather looks ok. We will probably be motoring for the first part with the hope we can sail from later today.

If you want to track us, you can follow us live here. marinetraffic.com/en/ais/detai…

@christineburns See the little spray bottle in the middle?

That's more than a third of the E in that picture.

And none of that bottle came from a pharmacy of any kind 😉

“What you gonna do when you randomly have 12 months supply of HRT sitting around in your drawer, Sarah?”

“Build Oestrohenge!”

This, right here, is what I look like right after the Elvanse wears off.

Sad, isn’t it?

@saramg @Tylae @bryanredeagle one of the girlfriends decloaks

I’m so utterly pleased that the lisdex works for you. You more than deserve a break.

@negative12dollarbill The meds turn me into a competent adult for 12-14 hours a day.

They have helped more than I could have imagined possible.

I had not known that people could be like that (and it’s now becoming like THIS because I’m feeling it start to hit)

But I guess it’s like if one transitioned, but at the end of the day had to revert to what you were before. That reversion is tough.

At some point in the last 4 months since starting ADHD meds the state I regard as normal has swapped over.

I’m currently in the post medicated state and I feel like some confused scared shadow of a person terrified of her own emotions which she doesn’t understand and bemused by the world.

This used to be who I was all the time.

That’s a lot to come to terms with.