To mark Trans Day of Visibility, the Lancaster Environment Centre would like to celebrate the contributions of trans and non-binary people to environmental studies, and offer our support and solidarity to the trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming students and staff who bring so much to our department.

Trans and non-binary geographers, ecologists and environmental scientists contribute vital insights to our understanding of the environment, drawing directly on their lived experience of challenging heteronormative and patriarchal norms. The vibrant field of queer ecology, for example, shows how people can have inaccurate preconceptions about nature, based on the projection of social ideas about fixed gender presentation being ‘normal’ or ‘natural’.

In reality, many species exhibit a wide range of behaviours that contradict these assumptions: including same-sex pairings, sex-changing, and non-reproductive social bonds. Clownfish, for example, are all born male, with certain individuals later becoming female. The bluehead wrasse can change from female to male in a matter of days, including a complete shift in reproductive anatomy, and whiptail lizards are an all-female species, who reproduce asexually! Even the common garden snail, whom we encounter every day here in Lancashire, is both sexes simultaneously. The study of queer ecology, and inclusion of trans and non-binary existence in our understanding of the environment, shows how wondrous and diverse nature is.

LEC is lucky to have many trans and non-binary people in our community, and we’d like to both thank them for their contribution to the department and recognise how difficult life has become for trans people in the UK since the 2025 Supreme Court ruling on gender. Many people have interpreted this legal change in a way that severely limits trans people’s rights.

Notably, we asked trans and non-binary staff and students if they’d like to contribute quotes to this blog, and all felt unwilling to draw attention to themselves publicly, considering the current context of political hostility. It is sad the contributions of trans and non-binary people to ecology, geography and environmental science cannot be openly and loudly celebrated, and we’d like to offer trans students and colleagues our full solidarity and support.

In recognition of the difficulties trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people face, LEC is in the process of setting up a peer-support network for members of the community. If you’d like to join, please contact Marta Shocket (they/them), who is part of our diversity and inclusion team, on m.shocket@lancaster.ac.uk.

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