Smyth told The Gazette today (13 June): ‘It was mainly the worst when it came to going into shops in Renfrewshire.
‘I found that a lot of the people who worked in security would be standing around laughing and staff workers would also follow me around, jumping to conclusions.
‘Walking down the street I’d get a lot of abuse sometimes. They’d shout at me a lot, called me gay and even accuse me of witchcraft.
‘There were so many times I almost contacted the police because it had got so bad but ended up scared of the repercussions.’
The abuse got so bad that she felt terrified to leave her Johnstone home fearing transphobic hate.
‘Because places like Johnstone are so small, everyone knows you so you can’t hide away.
‘The only choice I had was to move away from Renfrewshire and start a new life.
‘I feel like I’ve lost a lot of my friends because I had to leave Johnstone. My past was almost completely wiped away,’ she added.
Smyth however decided to speak out so she could raise awareness over the transphonbic hate she faced while living in Renfrewshire.
‘I want to speak out now so that people can realize how traumatic it can be for someone coming to terms with their identity.
‘It’s not witchcraft; people want to burn you at the stake for being a woman when you were born a man.
Taking a page from Monty Python I guess.
Nothing like a little mob rule to show how uncivilized our culture is. This woman did nothing wrong but was stalked in stores and harassed on the street. And of course security contributed to the problem by joining in.