Manifesto for a mutual aid hormone distribution network

Since March 2023, I have been compounding hormone medication as part of a growing network of DIY HRT orgaisers in the UK. I operate on a mutual aid basis, which means I make zero profit and charge as little as I can per product, accepting donations and giving them away for free as much as possible. I am not a lone operator, and I rely on many others to help me supply trans people across the country.

Mutual aid hormone distribution is an excellent vehicle for building a radical decentralised queer movement. By organising with the purpose of helping each other access hormones, we can increase our collective power and our capability to resist oppression.

Our hormone distribution network needs to be:

Towards bodily autonomy. We must not act like doctors. We should not gatekeep hormones, but we also should not manage others’ transitions for them. There is no “correct” or “perfect” way to transition. For example, there are many reasons why people may prefer a form of HRT other than injections, or choose not to get blood tests, or use an unorthodox drug regimen. Some people may prefer not to DIY at all. Our goal should be to uphold consent and help people make their own informed decisions.

Accessible and safe. Disabled trans people face more barriers to accessing hormones, so our medication needs to be safe for everyone to use. We should provide HRT gel as well as injections, and distribution must come hand-in-hand with education about DIY harm reduction. Another barrier we must dismantle is reliance on cryptocurrency. Most people don’t have the tech literacy to know how to buy cryptocurrency. They need to be able to buy and donate in cash, which means the network must operate in the real world and integrate within existing queer communities.

Towards community care. If we don’t explicitly work to dismantle hierarchies in our movement, we will recreate them. I have seen people in this scene use their access to hormones and knowledge about DIY to coerce or control others, profit off the labour of others, dodge accountability and increase their own power and influence within their community. I share my resources, including raw hormones, cash and homebrewing knowledge with others in the network as much as possible. In return, I have received more beautiful solidarity, support and friendship than would have been possible if I had been focused on being the most prolific or most well-respected homebrewer “brand.”

Resilient. We need to build security culture into our movement without becoming too paranoid to function. Our biggest threat is from the far-right, thus keeping the network a secret is our number one priority. Don’t post information publicly and encourage good infosec in others!

Collectivist. Individualism promotes the myth of self-sufficiency, and so DIYers often have a bunker mentality and will buy many years’ worth of hormones in one purchase. Hoarding might make us feel safer, but spreading out the supply strengthens us as a collective and makes us more capable of resisting transphobia and fascism. In order to meet demand, I make lower-concentration and lower-volume vials which last 6 months on average. I also encourage DIYers to keep only two vials at any one time: one vial to use, and one vial in case their first gets lost, broken, or confiscated.