Tour De Trans cycles Land's End to John O'Groats
31st July 2020
Awareness raising cycle passing through Scotland in August
This August, Paeton McGuire and their teenage son, Callum, will be cycling over 1000 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats raising awareness of trans issues in Britain, and fundraising for Southampton charity Chrysalis GIM. Paeton came out as non-binary trans earlier this year and as it was just before lockdown, this was even more of a challenging time. The idea of this cycling trip started as a personal celebration of their own inner journey and quickly evolved to be the Tour De Trans... aiming to raise awareness of the issues that trans people face, and starting conversations about gender identity.
In a recent Sports Media LGBT+ interview, Paeton talked about their journey before coming out “I personally am 53 and I have struggled with gender incongruence my whole life but when I left university and entered the corporate world, that was the last time I was able to display any outward signs of my true self because of transphobia and at that time, homophobia. I’ve suffered fairly severe transphobic and homophobic abuse”. You can read more on Paeton’s story over on their fundraising blog.
We caught up with Paeton and Callum recently who told us they are really excited about cycling through Scotland as their family are from West Wemyss in Fife, and as a keen snowboarder, Callum is no stranger to the Cairngorms. Paeton told us “My Scots heritage is an important part of the real person I am…Ending the Tour in Alba is deeply poignant and meaningful for me - marking my personal journey to completeness, and a spiritual homecoming”.
Although there are ongoing restrictions on events, we couldn’t possibly allow Paeton & Callum to come to Scotland without a welcome and so LEAP Sports, along with partners Pink Saltire and PRiDE OUT, will arrange a small physically distant welcome reception on August 22nd when they arrive in Edinburgh.
You can get involved by waving a flag or banner in support or by having your own solidarity cycle, and post photos using #TourDeTrans on Twitter or Instagram. Find out more about how to follow the tour here. Even a simple retweet can make a huge difference to the campaign.
