‘This is Not A Phase’ Campaign

This week, across the UK, we’ve launched our new ‘THIS IS NOT A PHASE’ campaign with billboards, posters and a short film that is live on our website. The campaign is to create awareness and uplift the lives of trans+ people.

So often trans+ people are portrayed as people to be feared or hated in mainstream media, they not only exist in everyday life but in fact thrive, living as ‘normal’ and joyful a life as everyone else. You can catch our national billboards across London, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff!

The THIS IS NOT A PHASE campaign will focus on positivity and joy, profiling eight trans+ people, going about their day to day lives in a bid to counter the damaging narrative currently being blamed for an increase in hate levelled at the community.

Shot by renowned photographer Jordan Rossi (Rankin Creative), the campaign will run for 6 weeks, finishing on March 31st, which is Transgender Day of Visibility and will be visible in town centres throughout the UK, on billboards, tubes and buses.

The stars of the campaign are also featured in the THIS IS NOT A PHASE video, available to view below. The stars of the video include Haina Qarithe AL-Saud, a British Middle Eastern Actor, and Miller Nelson, founder of Trans Hull, a climbing club for the trans+ communities of Hull and the surrounding areas.

Danielle St James, Chief Exec of Not A Phase explained: “The current narrative being pushed out by some in the UK is one of trans+ people being different, wrong and even dangerous. This is stoking fear and hatred which is having a devastating impact on our community, with verbal and physical abuse becoming increasingly common.

“This is not the first time we have seen how this narrative plays out. It mirrors the way in which gay people were treated in the 80s and, as was the case with our LGB siblings, it is a portrayal that couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, trans people have always been part of society, they are your bus drivers, your police officers, your lawyers, your dog walkers, your cabin crew…just normal people, getting on with living their normal lives as contributing members of society. Our campaign aims to highlight this fact.”

In the coming weeks, we aim to take our campaign into as many spaces as possible in the run up to Trans Day of Visibility on March 31st, when we’ll be hosting a very special event in central London to mark the occasion. If you’d like to get involved in any way, or help us to spread the word, contact us as hello@notaphase.org