Shash Appan

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Shash Appan (born August 1996) is a Welsh LGBT+ and anti-racist activist. She co-founded Trans Aid Cymru and is a director of the Trans Safety Network. She also campaigns for tenants’ rights and helped create a Cardiff website where tenants can anonymously rate their landlords.

She is of Indian descent and grew up in Birmingham. She came out to her parents at 18, but they were not supportive. After a suicide attempt she was sectioned and sent to live with her grandparents in India for two years before they allowed her to return to Britain. After a period of homelessness, she received an offer to study computer science at Cardiff Metropolitan University and moved to Cardiff.

In 2020 she organized protests in Cardiff calling for reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004. In March 2021 she raised concerns about an online hustings run by the Youth Cymru charity in which Plaid Cymru MS Helen Mary Jones was invited to speak, despite Jones having made controversial comments about transgender people. After attempting to raise concerns, she was kicked out of the hustings for displaying a trans pride flag in her profile picture. The controversy led to the resignations of two of the charity’s trustees.

In August 2021 she was named to Wales Online’s Pinc List of the most influential LGBT+ people in Wales. In April 2022 she spoke at a Trans Aid Cymru protest in front of William Morgan House, calling for a ban on conversion therapy and speaking about her experience as a survivor. In June 2022 she spoke at a PinkNews reception at the National Museum Cardiff, condemning British politicians who stoke transphobia, saying that “transphobia is essentially Tory policy.”