Some people wait their whole lives for a defining moment, and some people, like Kate Hutchinson, seem to walk straight into it carrying a 38-foot trans flag and a whole community’s courage on their shoulders. When the Pride Cymru parade in Cardiff was brought to a halt by a handful of anti-trans protesters, Kate did not shout at them, confront them, or give them what they wanted. Instead, she did something far more powerful. She turned to the crowd, trusted her instincts, and invited an entire city to speak up for trans lives. And Cardiff answered. Kate’s story did not begin on that sun-drenched August day in 2022. It began decades earlier, in a school playground in the 1970s, with a child who knew who she was but learned very early that the world could be cruel to difference. It runs through coming out in the 1990s, being pushed back into the closet by violence and fear, and then, years later, stepping back into the light when support, representation, and self-belief finally aligned.
Today, Kate is many things at once: a trans woman living joyfully and authentically, an educator, an activist, a trustee of Pride Cymru and Schools OUT UK, which brought LGBT+ History Month to the UK, a facilitator, a trainer, a rock musician, and, whether she asked for the title or not, a quiet heroine to a lot of people. This interview is not about soundbites or slogans. It is about lived experience, resilience, laughter in between the heavy moments, and what it really means to keep showing up for your community, even when it would be easier not to.
Monika: Kate, before we get into the big stuff, how are you really doing right now, not the public-facing Kate, but the one who gets to put her feet up at the end of the day?
Kate: To be completely honest, I really don’t get much time to put my feet up. I’m getting better, though, at prioritising my own happiness and making time for me. I have fantastic friends and family around me, and overall I’m pretty good, thanks.
Monika: I have to say, I love the colour of your hair. You’re tempting me to try it myself.
Kate: The whole red hair thing has become a big part of my look, and it was there from early on when I transitioned. I remember looking in the mirror and thinking, ‘People will notice you with hair like this, when all you want to do is blend in,’ but then I just thought, this is me. I’ll go big or go home.
Monika: That moment at Pride Cymru, when the parade stopped and everything went quiet for a second, do you remember what you felt in your body before you even had time to think?
Kate: I first became aware of what happened when our chair at the time came back through the march to tell me we had protesters. I felt like I wanted to cry initially, then I felt angry. I was leading a huge trans flag in the parade, carried mostly by young trans people and allies. I was upset about how this might make them feel.
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| "Activism isn’t for everyone; it can devour your life if you let it." |
Monika: Watching thousands of people join in and shout “Trans rights are human rights”, did that heal something in you, or did it open something new?
Kate: We took our parade flag to the front of the march initially as a powerful symbol. The young people carrying it were pretty outraged about the protest. There was a big open space in the road between ourselves and them. A sort of ‘No Man’s Land’. I looked around and felt helpless, then I realised that the thousands of people in the crowd and in the march were there to celebrate the community, and those seven protesters could not take this away from us. That's when I walked into that space and started the chant. I went to each side of the road to encourage the crowd to join in. I remember asking, ‘Are you going to let them do this? Let’s show them Cardiff won’t let hate win.’
I remember stopping for a second and asking myself, ‘Kate, are you mad? What the hell are you doing? No one will join in and you will look stupid?’ But then everyone took up the chant. My Pride colleagues and some of our patrons joined in, encouraging the crowd.
It was one of the proudest moments in my life. When I got back to the event site, a colleague who wasn’t on the march asked me how it went, and I just broke down and cried for a good 10 minutes.
Monika: I’ve talked to so many trans activists, and I know from my own life that activism comes with a heavy price, especially when it comes to personal life and family. Some of my trans friends feel comfortable living quietly, being happy wives, mothers, even grandmothers, away from the spotlight. Sometimes, I’ll admit, I feel a bit jealous of that. What’s your take on it?
Kate: Great question! When I first retransitioned, all I wanted was to live my life in a small village in North Wales, running my little crafts business. But the first time I started to receive abuse in the street, I realised it wasn’t my exact path. I was bullied in school, and I wasn't going to let that happen again at a point in my life where I was taking control of my life.
Activism isn’t for everyone; it can devour your life if you let it. I’m at a point where I'm still trying to strike a happy balance between my own health, happiness and well-being and standing up for the community.
Monika: You transitioned, detransitioned, and then transitioned again, which is something people love to oversimplify from the outside. What do you wish people understood about that journey?
Kate: Detransitioning is weaponised by the anti-trans campaigners and the press constantly. Sometimes I even see derogatory remarks from trans people about it. But the truth is, some people change their minds, realise it's not them after all, and that is fine. It’s when they don't take personal responsibility for their own actions that it’s not. But you also have people like me who detransitioned for safety and because they needed to be able to survive and feed, clothe and house themselves until a time when they had a good support network to be able to fully crack that egg again. Personal safety is incredibly important.
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| "I’m not sure if I’m disciplined enough to write an entire book." |
Kate: The first time I came out was in the late 1990s, no Equality Act, no Gender Recognition Act, no positive visibility at all. I came out that time around to the two cis women I was sharing a house with and found some acceptance; however, the rest of the world wasn’t so accepting. Finally seeing positive representation in the media, newspaper articles from trans journalists, TV shows like ‘My Transsexual Summer’ gave me more hope. That second stepping out of the shadows was such a positive experience compared to previously. Things have gotten much more challenging recently, but there’s no more hiding for me at this point.
One thing that helped me realise how I see real acceptance now was a recent weekend away with some gaming friends. All weekend I didn’t have any questions, I wasn't a curiosity to anyone, I didn't have to talk about my identity even once, I was just Kate, not ‘Kate, that transgender woman’. That was refreshing and just lovely. I want my whole life to be like that.
Monika: Choosing a name is such a deeply personal decision, one that can hold layers of significance and meaning. How did you come to choose the name Kate? Does it carry a special resonance for you, perhaps representing a part of your journey or embodying a particular feeling or aspiration?
Kate: In my previous transition, I used a more feminine version of my deadname. My deadname is a gender-neutral name, but I just needed a change. This sounds funny, but it came to me in a dream I had where I was working on my little craft stall and I was wearing a purple dress, had red hair and people were calling me Kate. That and the fact that I'm an absolute fan of the singer Kate Bush.
Monika: When you came out, did your mother embrace you as her daughter? And do you feel any connection to her in the way you look, carry yourself, or even in your style and mannerisms?
Kate: My mum was fantastic. She said all that matters is that I’m her child and she loves me no matter what. People have a stereotyped idea that older people are not going to be accepting. My mum is nearly 80 and she is an amazing ally. Every time I hear her refer to me and my sister to her friends as ‘my girls’, it makes me smile inside. We are very different when it comes to style; however, the older I get, the more I realise I'm very much like her in attitude and behaviour.
Monika: Do you remember the first time you met a transgender woman in person? What was that experience like, and how did it make you feel?
Kate: Yes, her name was Gina and she lived in Edinburgh. I met her online and went to stay with her, and I saw that it was possible to live my life in an authentic way.
Monika: Many of us feel the pressure to “pass” as women, and even after surgeries, society keeps judging us. How do you personally deal with the outside world’s expectations?
Kate: Initially I was so caught up in the idea of passing, I wanted to blend in so much. I wouldn’t go out of the house without makeup on, I was always dressed quite femme. But then I realised I was jumping from one closet into another, that I was falling into that trap of trying to fit others’ expectations. That’s when I really just started to explore my own sense of style. I’m me. If someone wants to judge me, it says more about them and their insecurities than it does about me.
Monika: I remember the time right after my transition, it was pure euphoria. My closet is still full of dresses and shoes that I literally bought by the dozens back then, and I must have tried on hundreds. I felt like I had to make up for all those years that were taken from me. Did you feel the same way?
Kate: Hahaha! Oh my, absolutely. I still have this one pair of red stiletto heels that I will never wear in a million years because they are not practical and not really me, but they are beautiful. I definitely went a bit ultra-feminine initially and enjoyed that, but my look these days is very much ‘rock chick’. Think Joan Jett or Suzi Quattro.
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| "I definitely went a bit ultra-feminine initially and enjoyed that." |
Kate: Self-care is incredibly important! Sometimes you have to disengage to protect yourself. I’ve seen so many friends burn out from the constant negativity. I’ve been there myself. I make sure to set limits for myself. Sometimes that is switching off social media or my phone for a few days, just to get my head back in a level state. To other campaigners out there, remember you are not the only one doing this. If you take time for yourself once in a while, there are more of us to take it up. Take care of you.
Monika: With all the recent legal changes and debates in the UK around redefining who is considered a woman, I sometimes find myself genuinely anxious about very ordinary things. If I came to London tomorrow and used the ladies’ restroom, my passport says I’m female, but would I be at risk of getting into trouble? Could something like that actually have legal consequences, or is it more about fear than reality?
Kate: I think it is completely unenforceable. I’ve never been challenged in a toilet in 13 years of my retransition. I think it is about fear, but fear can be an incredibly powerful tool when it’s used by people against minorities.
Monika: You do an incredible amount of emotional labour, training, facilitating, educating. What do you do just for Kate, that has nothing to do with activism or fixing the world?
Kate: I’m a geek and I love gaming, so I play and stream computer games. I’m also a musician and I write and record music at home and sometimes play the odd gig. I’m just in the early stages of putting a new band together. Music is everything to me.
Monika: Let’s talk about music for a moment, because rock bands do not always scream “safe space”. What does music give you that activism doesn’t?
Kate: Listening to music gives me an escape, and writing and playing music gives me an emotional outlet. It’s a very powerful and important force in my life. Also, let’s not forget, music can be activism too, a powerful form.
Monika: You’ve said activism wasn’t a choice, it was a necessity. If you lived in a kinder world, who do you think Kate Hutchinson would be?
Kate: An old kindly witch, living in the North Wales mountains, making music and playing the odd video game surrounded by lots of cats, dogs and horses.
Monika: What does living authentically actually look like on an ordinary, boring Tuesday afternoon?
Kate: Either teaching workshops in school or sat at my desk working from home as Education Manager for Diversity Role Models.
Monika: Many trans women are writing their memoirs these days. Have you ever thought about writing your own book?
Kate: Many times. I did start writing a book about being a trans activist in the UK, provisionally titled ‘Trans On Trains’. I realised a few years back that I spent so much time on trains down to London and back just for events or meetings, and quite often I would find a lot of friends doing the same. To the point where we only ever ran into each other at events or train stations. I’m not sure if I’m disciplined enough to write an entire book. I can write a half-decent article, maybe I need to write a book in a series of articles?
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| "It does get better." |
Monika: If you could sit down with a trans woman who is currently where you once were, scared, hiding, exhausted, what would you gently tell her?
Kate: It’s such a stereotype to say it, but ‘It does get better.’ But I’ll add onto that: ‘Sometimes you have to pull on your big girl pants and make it get better by yourself. That isn’t always easy, in fact it can be super hard, but you can do it!’ Never let the bastards grind you down.
Monika: What kind of future do you want Wales to be for trans people, not in policy documents, but in everyday life?
Kate: Where we are not the subject of the media, where we can get inclusive healthcare without having to fight for the simplest level of it. Wales is probably the most inclusive place in the UK right now when it comes to trans rights, but it still has a long way to go. I want a Wales where trans people are included in all walks and levels of life and no one needs to comment on their transness.
Monika: And finally, if we were having this chat again ten years from now, what would you love to be able to say has changed, for you, and for our community?
Kate: I would love to say that I’m happily retired and living as a kindly old crone, surrounded by animals, somewhere in the mountains of North Wales. For our community, I hope that in ten years no one has to hide who they are for safety, that we can live our lives authentically and feel like we are included.
All the photos: courtesy of Kate Hutchinson.
© 2026 - Monika Kowalska
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