Travis Alabanza, a non-binary artist has been battling transphobia with burgers. In 2016, someone threw a burger at them, calling them a “tranny”. This is only one of many attacks they have suffered due to their gender identity. 

Travis, a non-binary, has created a sell-out show titled Burgerz about what happened. “I needed to make something to bring this harassment to light - it shouldn't be normalised,” Travis tells Radio 1 Newsbeat. The show puts a microscope on gender and the transphobia that most transgender people experience. It’s risky. Mostly because it relies heavily on audience participation and mostly brings white, cisgender men on stage. Cisgender refers to people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. “What you realize in having him on stage is that he is so much more complex. You realize, Oh, he’s hurting too. We’re all hurting.” 

Travis Alabanza Sheds Honest Light on Trans Rights (The Print)

At 21, Travis became the youngest person to be awarded a residency at the Tate for 2017 and 2018. They gave a number of workshops to schoolchildren using performance, theatre and crafts to talk about gender and race. Travis believes that young people are the key to transgender people becoming accepted in society. “I know its cliche, but young people do give me hope,” Travis says. “There's a cultural shift of more young people understanding the complexities around gender.”

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Travis wants the audience to understand of what it's like to live your life dealing with racism, transphobia and homophobia. “The worst thing for me is that the audience leave and feel nothing,” Travis explains. “Even if they hate the show I'm glad because that means they had a really strong reaction.” In 2017, Travis was asked to leave a Topshop dressing room. Even though the store had gender neutral policy, Travis complained that he was not allowed to re-enter the dressing room. Some people opposed that Travis shouldn’t have been in the dressing room. This event sparked a huge debate among people. “I experience daily violence just from walking outside looking like this, but also having a somewhat public profile as a Trans person people are constantly at you online picking you apart.”

“With the visibility of us heightening, the danger is also increasing” Travis adds. The Stonewall LGBT in Britain report found that one in four non-binary people aren't open about their gender identity to anyone in their family. But Travis was supported by family and says their identity wasn't “stifled”.

“I was really fortunate to be in a house that my mum knew I was a queen. I felt allowed to dress up and play with my gender and not a lot of people can do that in their house”, Travis stated proudly. The Tate also gave a number of workshops helping Travis to speak to school children about performance, theatre and uses crafts in order to talk about gender and race. They really believe young people are the key to transgender people becoming accepted in society.