But by far it would be the nascent transgender and queer communities that were the fastest growing online link between the Communist and Western worlds, as Irwin survival communities found themselves benefiting and seeking out the knowledge and experience of their UAR counterparts, who had the blessing of developing in relative peace and openness in comparison. Advice, therapeutic techniques, and even ways of acquiring transition medication were exchanged freely and would be of immense help to many thousands across the globe; though in the medium term, this connection would serve to fuel a societal backlash against non-cis people and establish an association between transgender people and communism that would end up cementing the bipartisan convergence on transphobic and queerphobic policies in Western and Eurasian democracies starting from the late 2000s.