Trans rights have taken a big hit in the United Kingdom this year, but one community project is working to give trans youth a reason to smile this holiday season. 

Over the past few years, Trans Secret Santa UK has provided over a thousand gifts to trans youth under 25. But the group’s call for donations this year acknowledged that this year was especially tough. 

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In 2024, the UK government released the Cass Review, a wide-ranging review of Britain’s medical interventions for transgender youth that was condemned by many trans people and allies. Following the review, the UK Department of Health and Social Care placed a permanent, indefinite ban on puberty blockers for trans youth.

Earlier this year, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman under the country’s 2010 anti-discrimination law, The Equality Act, is based on “biological sex.” Following the ruling, the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recommended policies to ban trans people from restrooms and other public single-sex spaces.

“While trans adults might be struggling, imagine what that must feel like as a child,” said activist Jude Guaitamacchi in a fundraising video for Trans Secret Santa. He said many trans youth feel “isolated and powerless over their environment,” and Trans Secret Santa wants to “bring a little bit of joy to their lives this year.” 

In a video spotlighting the program, one of the group’s founders explains that many of the gifts have been purchased from trans authors, artists, and other trans creatives. “We put money directly back into the community,” they said. 

“We’ve already had messages from young people just thanking us for this project even existing,” one volunteer said, adding that it’s “important people know their authentic self is respected and cherished.”

“I grew up just not wanting any young person to go through what I went through,” said another. 

This year, the group will deliver gifts to 896 trans young people who applied, which it described as a record number.