Trans Death Cafe

Join Trans Death Cafe, as part of Queer Minds’ Trans Care Day on Sunday 23 November at the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre.

This is a space for trans, non-binary, agender and any folks who identify under the trans umbrella to talk about death and mourning, personally and collectively.

About Trans Care Day

This event is part of a day organised by Queer Minds. The afternoon will include:

• Food from the Lovage Project
• Spectrum chest binders from G(END)ER SWAP
• Radar keys and other resources from Community Aid 4 Trans
• Zines from London Zine Box
• Von-Luc: Massages – 1:30-5:30pm (no booking required)
• Titan Trims: Pop-up Barber – 1:30-5pm (no booking required)
• Trans Death Café led by Sukey Venables Fisher

Bookings are only required for the Trans Death Cafe event. The other events on during the day will work on a drop-in basis.

What is a Death Cafe?

As a society we rarely discuss death, even though its inevitability is the only thing we can predict in life. A Death Cafe is a useful forum for people coming to terms with a terminal illness and people caring for the dying. For any human being, no matter what their stage in life, an awareness of the presence of death can help us live our lives more fully.

The idea originated with the Swiss sociologist and anthropologist Bernard Crettaz, who organized the first café mortel in 2004. Jon Underwood, a UK web developer, inspired by Crettaz’s work, introduced the death cafe to London in 2011.

A Death Cafe is not a physical location but an event, sometimes irl, sometimes online, ideally with tea and cake to help create a nurturing and supportive environment.

The size of a group varies, as do topics: there are no pre-set rules other than respect for one another, and nothing is off limits. Holding space is often important. Sometimes a Death Café can be a very funny place – after all we’re here to lift the lid off the greatest taboo. Some people come to the same Death Café regularly. For others one visit provides the insight they needed, when it was needed most. For most perhaps, it’s a place to know is there, and dip in and out of when that feels right.

How do trans and CIS death and end of life differ? How much does that matter? What other lives do we touch at the end of our own, how is that experienced in our community, especially when we’re in the middle of mass assaults on our right to exist?

About the facilitator

Sukey Venables Fisher is a trained end of life doula, with Living Well Dying Well, and a trans community leader, including a London Trans+ Pride organiser and TUC Trans Rights Alliance chair.

Sukey makes a living as a screenwriter and is really looking forward to pulling the various strands of life together in this space. Sukey hopes it can be an idea with a future for our community.

Accessibility

The Centre’s accessibility statement is here.

Covid-19 safety at the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre

To keep our community safe, we ask that all visitors do not visit the Centre if they are feeling any Covid-19 symptoms including headache, fever, sore throat, consistent cough, and chills.

For current information on Covid please visit the NHS website.

Donate to the Centre

We rely on donations to ensure that the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre can keep its doors open for years to come.

To donate or become a Friend of the Centre, visit our website.