More than a decade ago, viewers first encountered her as a 29-year-old woman from Jersey on Channel 4's My Transsexual Summer. She had only recently begun living full-time as herself, had never knowingly met another trans person, and was still searching for confidence, community and a sense of what her future might look like. What happened next was not supposed to be a career plan. Sarah Savage moved to Brighton, found other trans people and, in late 2012, joined Fox Fisher and others in asking a deceptively simple question: why shouldn't there be a Pride specifically for trans and non-binary people? In July 2013, that idea became Trans Pride Brighton. The organisers expected perhaps 50 people. Hundreds came. Today, Sarah is CEO of the organisation she helped create, which has grown from a grassroots protest into a major annual event, a political platform and a permanent community centre. She has become a prominent speaker and activist on trans rights, visibility and belonging. But perhaps the best way to understand Sarah's activism is to look at what she lost before she began building.
Growing up in the insular community of Jersey, she knew little about transgender lives. After transitioning, she has spoken openly about her family disowning her and described transition as being "about loss," followed by years of finding a new family and learning what it meant to belong. Eventually, Trans Pride became more than an organisation she helped run. It became her home. That may explain why Sarah sees visibility not as an abstract political concept but as something deeply personal. A crowd of thousands matters, but so does the person who approaches her at Trans Pride in tears because it is the first time they have ever gone outside dressed as themselves. For Sarah, creating those moments is the point. There is another unexpected chapter to her story. The woman who once did not think of herself as particularly creative became a children's author. With Fox Fisher, she created Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?, followed by She's My Dad! and He's My Mom!, bringing questions of gender, transition, family and identity into children's literature. It is a natural extension of her activism: if Trans Pride creates a place where people can be visible, her books help make that visibility understandable to the next generation.
Yet Sarah is no longer simply the woman telling her own story. She now leads an organisation that requires fundraising, volunteers, logistics, political engagement and an extraordinary amount of work. Her activism has taken her from a television documentary about one woman's transition to the centre of Britain's increasingly difficult conversation about trans rights. The transformation is striking. The Sarah we met in My Transsexual Summer was searching for a community in which she could become herself. The Sarah we know today is helping create that community for thousands of others. She didn't inherit a place at the table. She helped build the table. I was delighted to speak with Sarah for The Heroines of My Life about transition, family, chosen family, television, creativity, children's books, activism, Pride, Brighton, and what happens when the search for somewhere to belong turns into a lifetime spent creating that place for others.
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| "Trans Pride was here to stay." |
Monika: Sarah, welcome to The Heroines of My Life! You've gone from appearing on television to running one of the UK's most important trans organisations. Be honest, when you started Trans Pride, did you have any idea you were accidentally signing yourself up for a lifetime of emails, meetings, spreadsheets and people asking, "Sarah, where's the stage?"
Sarah: Hi Monika, thanks for inviting me to take part. I've often found myself on your site reading some of the stories, so I'm honoured to take part! I absolutely did not expect Trans Pride Brighton to turn into the enormous thing it is now. I was just focused on the protest march part of it, being the shouty one, the fun stuff!
Monika: The first Trans Pride was a relatively small grassroots gathering, yet it eventually grew into an event attracting thousands of people. At what point did you realise, "Oh dear, we may actually have created something enormous here"?
Sarah: It was the second year, the first time we held a protest march. We didn't know how many people to expect, and I remember leaving the setup crew in the park to go and host the steward briefing at the Marlborough pub. I arrived at the doors and there were just five people mulling around on the street. I briefly thought nobody would turn up, and at the time, I didn't know that everyone arrives at protest marches within 15 minutes of the start. Sure enough, not long later I looked out of the window to see more than 1,000 people filling the streets, and reality started to set in. Trans Pride was here to stay.
Monika: What do you remember most vividly about that first Trans Pride in 2013, the atmosphere, the people, the nerves, or perhaps one particular moment that has stayed with you ever since?
Sarah: It was the atmosphere, the vibes, cherished friends, the disbelief that we'd actually made it happen. The chalk rainbow crosswalk we drew on the street that was then washed away by a rain shower. It was seeing the hilarious reaction from the committee when the comedian Bethany Black dropped 142 swear words from our previously family-friendly stage. Sat at home in peace and quiet on the Monday after, reflecting on the beautiful thing that I'd played a small hand in creating, and crying with joy and pride. Lots of one particular moments!
Monika: Trans Pride was created specifically to centre trans and non-binary people rather than allowing them to become a footnote within a larger Pride. After all these years, what do you think trans people still need from Pride that mainstream Pride sometimes fails to provide?
Sarah: I think mainstream Pride still lacks equitable representation of trans and non-binary people, from leadership and organising boards, down to who they choose to perform from their stages and the businesses they work with. Pride is about community, and every good Pride event places the needs of its community as a top priority. As a visitor to Pride, if I never see a trans person being respected and centred, how can I ever believe in a future where I am respected and centred?
Monika: You have deliberately defended the grassroots character of Trans Pride and resisted what you describe as "rainbow capitalism." Why is independence from corporate sponsorship so important to you?
Sarah: I think as trans people, we're used to working outside of the normal, and being grassroots is something everyone who has ever been on our organising committee agrees on. Back in the early 2010s, crowdfunding was new and exciting, and raising money online helped us to realise the depth of support from the wider community. Volunteers held out buckets for people's money, trade unions wanted to pay for sign language interpreters, nightclubs ran fundraisers for us. It opened our minds to what was really possible. Not having corporate money, or even the fear that the sponsorships might be taken away, has allowed us to speak truth to power and to fearlessly advocate for the real needs of our communities. Companies who lessen their allyship for political or profit-driven reasons were never allies in the first place, so we have no option but to safeguard our community from their exploitation.
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| "Trans and non-binary people first, everything else second." |
Monika: You are now the CEO of an organisation that has grown enormously, with volunteers, fundraising, logistics, politics and a permanent community centre. How do you preserve the rebellious spirit of a grassroots protest once the protest itself becomes an institution?
Sarah: I think it's a few things. Firstly, everyone's voice on the committee is equal and worth listening to. People bring ideas to our meetings, we talk, we vote, but everything we do is based on the principles of respect. It means we can talk about radical ideas, like banning politicians from Trans Pride or calling out institutions that are failing us, from a place of safety and feeling like we're actually doing something to help our communities. Trans and non-binary people first, everything else second.
Monika: Is there a particular person you have met at Trans Pride whose story made you think, "This is exactly why we do all of this"?
Sarah: There's so many! We've just done our fourteenth event, and it reminded me of a trans guy I met at the first ever event. He had this awesome leather jacket with dozens of pins and patches all over. He was pregnant at the time, and it struck me that his child is now well on their way to adulthood and has grown up never knowing a world where Trans Pride doesn't exist.
Monika: Activism can be enormously rewarding, but it can also consume your life. Have there been moments when you wondered whether you could keep carrying the responsibility, and what keeps you going when you are exhausted?
Sarah: My friends, cats and being laid on the sofa being lazy! I'm so lucky that all of my activism is focused on helping to create a beautiful, wholesome day for other people. Yeah, it can be stressful, but it's worth every moment.
Monika: Looking at the current climate for trans people in Britain, are you more worried, more angry, more determined, or strangely more hopeful than you were when you started Trans Pride?
Sarah: I'm pissed off about it! I think it's important to face adversity head on, so what's happening right now just makes me more determined to do my bit in helping my community to succeed. What gives me hope is the amount of allies who are stepping up and speaking out. We've noticed a spike in cis people volunteering and fundraising for Trans Pride Brighton. The majority of people support our right to exist, and the resistance is definitely mobilising.
Monika: Somewhere along this journey, you also became a children's author. Your children's books allow very young readers to encounter transgender people as part of ordinary family life. When you write for children, what do you most hope they will understand by the time they close the book?
Sarah: I just want kids to know that trans and non-binary people exist, and that is a completely normal thing. I want to give parents and family members a way to talk about gender with young children. It's not just that we exist, it's seeing positive examples of gender expression, how to challenge stereotypes and respecting other people's choices.
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| "We've really got stable foundations at Trans Pride Brighton." |
Monika: Many trans women are writing their memoirs these days. Have you ever thought about writing your own book, and if so, what would its central message be?
Sarah: You're the third person this weekend to ask me this! I've been thinking of writing a memoir for twenty years, to be honest. The chapters and themes are planned, but I haven't made a start on actual writing. It'll be about power and authority, where I get it from, how I've challenged it and the lessons I've learned.
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 your name? Does it carry a special resonance for you, perhaps representing a part of your journey or embodying a particular feeling or aspiration?
Sarah: Not really! Savage is my mum's name, and Sarah just sounded nice to say out loud after testing out a few. It just felt right. Growing up we did have a car named Sarah the Sierra, so maybe I'm named after a car, who knows!
Monika: When you look back at the 29-year-old Sarah we met in My Transsexual Summer, what do you feel toward that young woman now? Do you recognise her immediately, or does she sometimes feel like someone from another lifetime?
Sarah: I recognise her, but now, half a lifetime later, I'm so much more than who I was then. I'd prefer to be where I am now than where I was filming that show. It changed my life in ways I didn't know how to even dream of, and I'm so glad I took the chance to take part.
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?
Sarah: I remember the first time I was in a room full of trans people, that first moment of being one of the My Trans Summer 7. I felt so nervous and on edge, but at the same time the feeling of seeing real people like me was incredible. It was the first bit of tangible community I had found, and it was intoxicating.
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?
Sarah: I just know that I don't need to let other people project their expectations on me. I'm accountable to me, and if I want to sleep well at night, I can't live my life inside the little boxes that society tries to force you into. Whether that's passing, dressing like a goth or whatever, I judge myself on expectations I set for myself.
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?
Sarah: Oh, I have a whole set of dresses and skirts that are so short they're "inside clothes" only these days! Yeah, I think we all go through that stage, and it was wonderful to experience that part of transition, but I'm kind of glad that middle age has come for me, and I feel best in more comfortable clothes these days.
Monika: You became publicly known at a remarkably vulnerable point in your transition, when cameras and viewers were watching you discover yourself. Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to transition privately, without cameras, journalists and the public watching?
Sarah: I dread to think how it would have been if I'd done it quietly! My Trans Summer feels less like a story of transition and more like an opportunity to completely reinvent myself and my life. It was the biggest gamble I'd ever taken, but it paid off again and again.
Monika: Finally, what's next for you? What dreams and goals are you working toward now? After everything you have already built, is there still something you secretly think, "I would absolutely love to make that happen"?
Sarah: Oh, so much! It feels like I'm just getting started. We've really got stable foundations at Trans Pride Brighton, especially with the future of the Trans Pride Centre secured for the next five years with the National Lottery grant. We are ready to keep building space for our community. I have another ten children's books in my head and at least one novel! Currently I'm working with an artist towards launching my Jackie Trolling series of rhyming, political satire books, which you can order from my website, and of course, low-key thinking about a memoir!
Monika: Sarah, thank you so much for sharing your story with me and my readers.
Sarah: Thank you, Monika, it's been a pleasure!
All the photos: courtesy of Sarah Savage.
© 2026 - Monika Kowalska
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