TRANS DAY OF VISIBILITY
A POWERFUL ADVOCATE
To mark International Transgender Day of Visibility, Police Sergeant Rhian Carter reflects on her journey reaching out to LGBTQ+ police networks, and the invaluable support they provided. By Sophie Garrod
Everyone’s coming-out experience within the LGBTQ+ community is unique, and the process can be both difficult and liberating. Being transgender within the police service also presents unique challenges, and a visible presence on the frontline can sometimes be met with discrimination from society. But Sergeant Rhian Carter
has used her visibility as a strength, and it has led to positive outcomes for other transgender police officers and staff as her advocacy work has encouraged them to seek the support they need. Rhian, who is the Trans Lead for the South Wales LGBT+ Police Network
14 | POLICE | APRIL 2023
and Wales Regional Representative to the National LGBT+ Police Network, explained: “In 2019 I was a newly transitioning police woman, having come
“It was very much a case of ‘how do I manage this?’, because transitioning is a difficult choice to make and a difficult thing to do.”
Growing up in a small village
“I was expecting to have my motives questioned but it was the opposite and they gave me the confidence to press ahead and take that step”
out to my colleagues as trans. Despite always having a sense of something being different, I hadn’t always had the words to describe, or awareness, of being trans until around the time I joined the police service, realising in my early 20s.
near Caerphilly, South Wales, she said there was no LGBTQ+ visibility, as it was a taboo subject. This led to Rhian worrying about how she would be perceived after coming out.
“I had some internalised
homophobia and transphobia to deal with,” she said. “My consistent worry was I would be ridiculed and bullied, and it would affect my career. But when the day finally came and I did tell very close colleagues in 2019, they were shocked,
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