Transgender

Among humans, a transgender person was someone whose gender did not align with that which they were assigned at birth. The term was used as an adjective, often shortened to simply "trans".

Mickey Smith had a trans friend called Sally Salter, who was part of his Bad Wolf band. (PROSE: Rose) Jack Harkness once had a transgender co-worker, Vanessa, who previously went by the name Vincent, something that perplexed Jack. (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts)

Eleanor Blake, an accomplished mathematician who met the Seventh Doctor and entered a brief romantic relationship with Chris Cwej, was a trans woman who lived through the 1940s. She went on to travel with Alpha Wheeler throughout space to escape the discrimination she faced in Earth.(AUDIO: The Jabari Countdown)

Because gender was commonly assigned at birth, (TV: Day of the Moon, Father's Day) trans people like Sally Salter (PROSE: Rose) and Eleanor Blake came to realise that they had always been a different gender to that which they had been told. Despite others' non-acceptance, Eleanor was fully aware that she had "always been Eleanor". (AUDIO: The Jabari Countdown) In the mid-2000s, Sally had to cut ties with her family in order to begin living life as herself. She found affirmation with her friends and bandmates, together known as Bad Wolf, and a safe space in which to sleep at Mickey's one-bedroom flat. (PROSE: Rose)

Earth takes its time on too many things, and [trans rights] is one of them. Not in this century, I'm afraid. Though the next one is... a little better.Seventh Doctor

Though, according to the Seventh Doctor, circumstances would improve "a little" by the 21st century for trans people, Eleanor had to hide her identity in order to survive in the 1940s. In fact, Eleanor faced violence and discrimination on account of her gender. She was surprised to find Chris Cwej so accepting, noting how he "didn't even blink", but held little hope for changes to come within her lifetime.

Coming as he did from the 30th century, Chris did not understand the fuss about assigned genders. As he explained to Eleanor, on first finding out she was a trans woman, "it seems a bit stupid to care about little stuff like that", considering the breadth of the universe, and all the dangers and variety to be found therein. (AUDIO: The Jabari Countdown)

Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17 also once claimed to Rose Tyler that she had once been "a little boy" on Earth, although she was notoriously prone to misusing words and knowledge from her early Earthly life. (TV: The End of the World)

Conall Lethbridge-Stewart knew some people who were trans and had told his younger sister, Lucy Wilson. (PROSE: Sweet Revenge)

Tania Bell was transgender, and had a relationship with Liv Chenka, a fellow Eighth Doctor companion. (AUDIO: Must-See TV, Wild Animals)

Some non-binary people were also considered transgender, such as Calypso Jonze. (AUDIO: The Lovecraft Invasion)

Behind the scenes

Writers

In 2011, trans woman Lilah Sturges wrote the IDW comic story A Fairytale Life. Sturges was credited by her birth name for the story as she "didn't consciously know [she was transgender] until 2012".

Jay Harley was the assistant director for Series 6 and writer of Zero Hour and The Good Master for Big Finish in 2017. They later came out as non-binary.

In 2018, Juno Dawson, another trans woman, wrote the novel BBC New Series Adventures novel, The Good Doctor.

Also during this time, Niki Haringsma wrote two Faction Paradox short stories: A Scene and What Keeps Their Lines Alive.

Later in 2018, "tubular transdudette" Doris V Sutherland wrote PROSE: The Bunny's Curse. She would go on to write another Bernice Summerfield story, AUDIO: Clear History, in 2019.

Actors

Lor Wilson, who portrayed Lucy Cartwright and Daughter of Mine in Human Nature / The Family of Blood, later came out as non-binary. They reprised their role in the 2020 webcast The Shadow in the Mirror.

In 2015, Bethany Black became the first openly transgender person to be cast in an episode of Doctor Who, series 9's Sleep No More. She played the role of 474.

Adèle Anderson, a trans woman, had a guest role in the 2017 Big Finish audio story The Carrionite Curse. She later played a series of clones named Dreyda in the Jenny: The Doctor's Daughter audio story Zero Space, and held a recurring role as Major Tamasan in the Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume Three box set.

In 2020, Rebecca Root began her role in Stranded as Eighth Doctor companion Tania Bell, who was the first trans companion in the Doctor Who universe. She also portrayed cis characters in earlier Big Finish stories.

That same year, non-binary actor Robyn Holdaway had a role in AUDIO: The Lovecraft Invasion. They played Calypso Jonze, a trans, non-binary bounty hunter from the 51st century.