Trans Rights Are Human Rights: Creating Safe Coworking Spaces with Tash Koster-Thomas

0:00

/200

“I’m not going to hide my tears right now. So often, people sit behind keyboards and write these comments, and they don’t see the impact of their words. And today I want you to see the impact.” - Tash Koster-Thomas.

Unreasonable Connection Going Live! London, February 2026.

🎟️ Tickets go on sale in January 2026.

The entire day is co-created by the coworking community builders on the co-creation waitlist.

Join The Wait List

Tash Koster-Thomas was delivering a paid webinar on LGBTQ+ allyship when the anonymous racist comments started scrolling across the screen.

Two hundred people watched as she broke down live on camera, choosing vulnerability over politeness, truth over comfort.

This wasn’t just a difficult moment. It was a perfect distillation of what Trans Awareness Week actually means in 2025 Britain—and why every coworking space owner needs to understand what’s happening right now.

Bernie sits down with Tash, equity and inclusion consultant and co-founder of Breaking the Distance, to unpack the brutal reality of the Supreme Court ruling that just made trans people legally vulnerable in British workplaces and public spaces.

You’ll hear how the law now allows employers to ask about someone’s “gender status.”

How the state’s own equality watchdog has redefined trans people’s right to exist as merely a “preference.”

And crucially, what coworking operators can do to create a genuine sanctuary when the government won’t.

This isn’t academic theory. This is survival economics in real time.

If you’ve ever wondered how to signal safety without performativity, or how to support marginalised communities when the law actively works against them, this conversation will show you exactly where to start.

The personal cost of this work is real. The political stakes couldn’t be higher.

And the practical steps forward are more straightforward than you might think.

Timeline Highlights

[00:04] Bernie’s announcement: Co-creating the London Coworking Assembly for February 2026—”you will design the curriculum or the agenda together”

[02:11] Tash’s mission statement: “Being a good human, actually. That’s what I’d like to be known for.”

[03:21] Trans Awareness Week scope: “It is global, but probably more prominent in the UK”

[04:16] The Supreme Court ruling explained: “Sex refers to being assigned female at birth, and are biological women. And therefore, if you’re a trans woman, you are not a biological woman.”

[06:45] The legal contradiction: “Just because you’re protected in this instance here, it still means you can be highly discriminated against.”

[07:48] The impact on coworking spaces: “We want to be a trans inclusive space and we welcome all, but now we feel like this ruling is a contradiction of that.”

[09:02] The intersex reality: “1.7% of our global population are intersex and fit into neither one of those binary categories”

[10:24] Fear as the weapon: “What happens is it creates fear more than anything”

[11:53] Clear signals matter: “If I see a space that says we are inclusive and it includes all women, trans and non-binary folk. That to me signals safe space.”

[13:57] The exclusion principle: “A safe space can’t always be a space that everybody comes to, because then by default, it stops being a safe space.”

[17:06] The moment of truth: “I’m not going to hide my tears right now. I want you to see the impact of these words.”

[19:24] Bernie’s visceral reaction: “I couldn’t believe you held it together.”

[21:04] The spotlight problem: “Trans community is facing the most amount of hate that it’s been facing all year because now it’s a spotlight”

[23:30] Allyship as consistency: “Allyship isn’t a thing that you can do as a performative thing. It has to be a consistent effort that you put in day in, day out.”

[24:32] Practical bathroom policy: “Put something up that says, We recognise that ideally we would be using gender-neutral toilets... you have the freedom to use whatever bathroom feels right for you.”

The Supreme Court Ruling Nobody Talks About

In April 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled that “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act means biological sex only—not gender identity.

Most people missed this. Most coworking operators definitely missed this.

But Tash explains the brutal implications with surgical precision: trans people can now be legally questioned about their “gender status” at work and excluded from toilets matching their lived identity.

The state’s own equality watchdog calls this loss of dignity a mere “preference for things to be a certain way.”

This isn’t legal theory. It’s economic precarity by design. When you can’t safely use a workplace toilet, you can’t safely earn a living.

For coworking spaces, this creates an urgent choice: follow the government’s new permission to discriminate, or become a sanctuary that provides the rights the state just stripped away.

Why Safe Spaces Can’t Include Everyone

Tash cuts through the liberal fantasy that inclusion means “everyone welcome always.”

“A safe space can’t always be a space that everybody comes to, because then by default, it stops being a safe space for the core demographic that you’re trying to defend and support.”

She draws the parallel with racism: if you’re creating a space for the global majority people to process discrimination, you can’t also welcome people who deny racism exists. Their presence destroys the safety you’re trying to create.

The same logic applies to gender-critical voices in trans-inclusive spaces. Not because those voices are evil, but because safety requires boundaries.

For coworking operators worried about appearing exclusive, Tash offers clarity: know who you’re serving. If you try to serve everyone, you serve no one safely.

The Viral Comments That Exposed Everything

The story that stays with you: Tash delivering a virtual LGBTQ+ session to 200 people when anonymous participants started posting racist comments in the chat.

The organisers, thinking they were being helpful, put the comments on screen for everyone to see.

Tash broke down live on camera. But instead of hiding her tears, she looked directly into the lens: “So often people sit behind keyboards and write these comments, and they don’t see the impact of their words. And today I want you to see the impact.”

That moment of vulnerability became the most powerful teaching tool imaginable. The CEO immediately stepped in. The entire organisation had to confront what they’d been harbouring. Allies reached out privately.

But here’s what haunts her: this only mattered because it was public. How many trans people face this abuse daily without witnesses? Without support? Without organisational learning?

The Economics of Absorbing Hate

Tash reveals the hidden cost structure of diversity work: companies pay her to process their toxicity.

She gets a fee for the webinar. But the real price—the emotional devastation, the tears, the psychological impact—gets absorbed by her personally. The company externalises its cultural problems onto the consultant it hires to fix them.

This is the diversity industry’s dirty secret. The very people most equipped to diagnose the problem are also the most vulnerable to its damage.

For coworking operators, this raises uncomfortable questions about how you handle incidents. Do you expect marginalised members to educate aggressive members? Do you put the burden of explaining discrimination on those experiencing it?

Or do you do the work yourself?

Practical Allyship That Actually Matters

Tash’s advice cuts through performative gestures to focus on sustainable support:

Learn the legal context. If you don’t understand the Supreme Court ruling and its implications, you can’t protect your members from it.

Be explicit in communications. “Women’s events include trans and non-binary folk” tells people exactly where you stand.

Work with infrastructure constraints. If you can’t change your toilets, put up a sign: “We recognise that ideally we would be using gender-neutral toilets. But, given the infrastructure, you are free to use whichever bathroom feels right for you. And everybody within this space honours that.”

Check in consistently. Not just during awareness weeks. Trans Awareness Week is actually when the hate peaks because transphobes see it as permission to attack. Real allyship happens in February, not November.

Set and enforce norms. Decide what behaviour you tolerate, then hold that line. Safety isn’t a feeling; it’s a set of enforced boundaries.

When Coworking Becomes Civic Infrastructure

Bernie and Tash explore what happens when the state abandons its duty to protect citizens.

If the government won’t guarantee trans people’s right to exist safely in public spaces, then private spaces become political. A coworking space that provides gender-neutral toilets isn’t just being nice—it’s providing civic infrastructure the state refuses to build.

This elevates the Coworking Citizenship Playbook from community guide to survival manual. When democracy fails, citizen-led spaces fill the gap.

The question isn’t whether this is political. It’s whether you’ll use your space to expand dignity or contract it.

The Cost of Tokenism

Bernie raises the visual everyone recognises: London buildings with faded rainbow stickers from when DEI was trendy.

Tash’s response is measured but cutting. Tokenistic gestures don’t just fail to help—they actively harm by creating a false sense of security.

Better to be honestly unwelcoming than pretend to be safe when you’re not.

The alternative isn’t perfect inclusion from day one. It’s committing to the work consistently, learning publicly from mistakes, and prioritising actual safety over comfortable symbolism.

🔗 Links & Resources

Tash’s Work

Projects & Community

European Coworking Day
London Coworking Assembly
European Coworking Assembly
The annual Coworking Trends Survey is live - it’s more important than ever.
Unreasonable Connection Going Live! London, February 2026.

Resources & Context

🧠 One More Thing

Coworking brings communities together, helping people find and share their voices.

Each episode of the Coworking Values Podcast explores Accessibility, Community, Openness, Collaboration, and Sustainability—values that shape the spaces where we gather, work, and grow.

If this resonates with you, rate, follow, and share the podcast. Your support helps others discover how coworking enriches lives, builds careers, and strengthens communities.

Community is the key 🔑

Share this article

🎙️Coworking Values Podcast

Written by

Bernie J Mitchell