I read Ben Greene's list and felt something shift. Not relief exactly, and not surprise, but something closer to recognition. Because this is what real allyship looks like when it stops being decorative and starts being useful, and Greene has laid it out in fifty concrete, human, genuinely do-able steps.

The backdrop matters. In the United States alone, over 500 anti-trans bills have been introduced across 37 states in 2026, according to the ACLU. Healthcare bans, sports bans, the stripping of legal identification. The scale of it is designed to feel overwhelming, which is part of the point. If you can make the opposition feel futile, fewer people bother.

So here is the counter-fact that Greene leads with, and it deserves to travel further: over the last fifteen years, advocates have defeated roughly 90% of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in the US. Ninety percent. That number comes from Logan Casey at the Movement Advancement Project, and it is not a reason to feel comfortable, it is a reason to keep going. The fights that have been won were won by people doing something, not watching.

What the list actually says

Greene's fifty actions break into five areas: learning, supporting trans friends, supporting trans youth, spending money wisely, and taking civic action. What strikes me reading through them is how much warmth runs through the practical. This is not a protest manual, it is a friendship manual, a citizenship manual, a how-to-be-a-decent-person manual.

The suggestion to ask a trans friend "What's bringing you joy right now?" instead of "How are you?" is a small thing that isn't small at all. Trans people are not obliged to be ongoing reports from the front line of their own persecution. They are people with joys and interests and creative lives, and a good friend notices that. Greene also suggests, when a particularly awful headline drops, inviting a trans friend out for something fun with no phones and no news. Not ignoring what is happening. Just recognising that your trans friends already know, and what they might need from you in that moment is not more information, it is company.

The section on trans youth is the one I find most urgent. Greene recommends researching whether hospitals in your area have stopped providing gender-affirming care, finding out about local school board elections, and creating spaces where young trans people feel genuinely seen. A fancy dress-up dinner. A spa day. A fashion show. Not political statements, just moments where a young person can feel at home in themselves. Those moments matter more than most people realise. Many of the trans adults I have spent years listening to can point to a single moment of being seen, really seen, that changed everything for them. You can be that moment for someone.

Money is action

Greene is clear that spending is not a substitute for civic action, but it is action. Buying books by trans authors sends a signal to publishers that trans stories are worth publishing. Shopping at trans-owned businesses builds community economics. Donating to mutual aid funds meets urgent needs directly. And if you have the means, finding someone on GoFundMe fundraising for gender-affirming surgery or a cross-country move to safety, and paying the gap, is about as direct as it gets.

Trans small businesses and writers are being actively suppressed by social media algorithms, Greene notes. That is not a conspiracy theory, it is a documented pattern. Which means buying something directly, sharing it loudly, posting about it repeatedly, is a genuine act of resistance dressed up as an ordinary Tuesday afternoon.

The civic piece

This is where I want to add my own voice. State house races, school board elections, library board seats: these are the arenas where anti-trans legislation is being shaped and where it can be stopped. Greene is right that donating to an explicitly pro-trans candidate and then telling them why you donated matters, because campaigns are shaped by the issues that donors and volunteers name. If you show up for trans rights, candidates learn that trans rights are a winning issue, and that changes what they say and what they do.

Local elected officials are not abstract. They are often people you can email, call, or meet. Use that proximity.

What allyship is not

It is not a rainbow logo in June and silence in July. It is not forwarding bad news to trans friends because you feel like they should know. It is not asking your trans friends to educate you endlessly about their own existence. Greene's list, quietly and without making a speech about it, models something different: allyship as ongoing relationship, consistent attention, and a willingness to take a small risk, spend a little money, turn up somewhere, say something, so that trans people are not fighting this alone.

The list comes from Good Good Good News, via Ben Greene's newsletter Good Queer News. Both are worth your attention.

If there is a news story you would like me to cover then just let Sammy know.

Dr Helen Webberley is a gender specialist, medical educator, and advocate, and the founder of GenderGP. She writes about gender diversity, trans healthcare, and the fight for trans rights.