Workshops to show trans people how to apply make-up, fit a bra or groom their beard have been supported by two of Bishop's Stortford's Herts county councillors.
Cllr Colin Woodward has granted the group £750 while fellow town Conservative Cllr John Wyllie has given £300. Sawbridgeworth Tory member Cllr Eric Buckmaster added his backing with a £250 grant towards the £2,200 project.
The cash for TSG Herts, a support group for transgender and non-binary people and their families, came from their locality budgets. Each of the 77 Herts county councillor gets £10,000 a year to spend on local projects that promote the social, economic or environmental wellbeing of their local area. Applications to a number of councillors in Herts mean the total cost of the project has now been covered.
According to TSG's submission to members, the aim is to "improve the health and social wellbeing of our trans community through practical workshops".
The money will pay for products needed, such as cosmetics, and professional assistance, where possible from another trans person.
TSG says: "The tutorials will teach and support the trans community how to apply make-up, learn new skincare regime for their changing skin, learn to manage beard care, provide a safe and private place for intimate waxing and bra fitting.
"There will also be a service providing advice about types and shapes of clothing choices. This support will form part of this project that aims to instil confidence to our trans community and improve their self-esteem.
"By providing these services through our workshops, the trans people can feel safe to ask questions [and] learn new skills to meet their daily living needs throughout the social and physical transition to the gender they identify as now.
"These skills are taken for granted for those who are comfortable in their gender; this community need to acquire these skills to help them fit in socially and to reduce bullying and harassment which they currently experience on a regular basis."
TSG Herts organised a quiz night on July 12 at Tom Tiddlers Tavern in Stevenage, where its activities are centred, to raise further money for the workshops.
TSG told the councillors: "In improving how they [trans people] feel as individuals and helping their confidence and self-esteem, we are reducing the risk of suicide being attempted or completed."
A spokesperson for TSG told the Indie that because of "the high rate of hate crime and very poor mental health suffered by many of this community" they were unable to specify how many members come from Bishop's Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and East Herts as a whole.
They said: "We are a fairly new group. The transgender community throughout Hertfordshire is a marginalised part of the wider community and we are the only trans specific support group for adults across the county. They are people who are travelling to attend from all parts of Hertfordshire each month.
"We offer support to anyone identifying as trans, their partners, parents and families/friends. The councillors... offered their support due to residents from their areas that are members of the TSG Herts groups."
*According to Stonewall, non-binary is: "An umbrella term for people whose gender identity doesn't sit comfortably with 'man' or 'woman'. Non-binary identities are varied and can include people who identify with some aspects of binary identities, while others reject them entirely." The LGBTQ+ charity says trans is: "An umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth. Trans people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including (but not limited to) transgender, transsexual, gender-queer (GQ), gender-fluid, non-binary, gender-variant, crossdresser, genderless, agender, nongender, third gender, bi-gender, trans man, trans woman, trans masculine, trans feminine and neutrois."
