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National Trans Memorial: Public Consultation – Update

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The National Trans Memorial was the first and only memorial of its kind in the UK, and was a powerful and emotive symbol of the fight for trans equality and acceptance.

In August 2022, the National Transgender Memorial was irreparably damaged – the memorial provided a focal point for the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance event and was a place of solace and private reflection for the trans, non-binary and gender expansive community.

The loss of the memorial led to our community-wide consultation, focused on trans, non-binary, and gender expansive voices. The aim of the consultation was to collect intersectional perspectives, from across the trans community, to ensure the artistic brief for the National Trans Memorial reflected those for who it will serve.

Arup have since produced the artistic brief for a new monument, which is now available to visual artists. Please refer to the artistic brief provided for further details of our vision and requirements for submissions.

Click here to find out more about the Public Consultation

It is important that submissions are reflective of the trans, non-binary and gender expansive communities – we welcome submissions from those that belong to these groups and those from other under-represented groups including but is not limited to people of colour, young people, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and people with disabilities.

Chair of Sparkle’s Board of Trustees Vicki Mulligan said:

“As custodians of the National Trans Memorial, we were obviously devastated by the damage the memorial sustained last year, making it structurally unstable and leading to its removal. The project to replace the memorial, assisted by our partner Arup and with the support of Manchester City Council, is ongoing, and the Charity promises that its replacement will not only be a testament to the strength and resilience of our community, but a monument that our city and its residents can be proud of.”

Zoe Megins-Davies (she/they), Consultation Lead, Arup – added:

“Powered by the honesty, compassion, and care – respondents have contributed to the consultation, and we hope that the resulting artistic brief for the National Transgender Memorial will inspire a monument which not only reflects the broad diversity of the transgender community but is one the wider community will be proud of.”

The fundraising campaign to finance the new monument will begin on Friday 31st March, Trans Day of Visibility. This will be led by Sparkle: The National Transgender Charity.

National Church Invests in LGBT+ Charity

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A CHARITY which affirms and empowers lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) people to build communities hosted by welcoming and understanding churches has received a large cash boost from one of Britain’s national churches.

The United Reformed Church (URC), which agreed in 2016 to allow local churches to vote on performing marriages of couples of the same gender, has committed to supporting the Open Table Network (OTN), a growing partnership of communities across England and Wales run by and for LGBT+ people, their families and friends.

The grant, for £50,000 over the next three years, is the first donation that OTN has received from any national church in the 15 years since it began among a group of six LGBT+ people at St Bride’s Anglican Church in Liverpool in 2008.

At a time where most other public places welcome them equally, LGBT+ people are still not always welcomed in Britain’s churches. They are significantly more likely to experience mental distress, which research has shown relates explicitly to discriminatory pastoral practices of local churches, and the church’s substantial contribution to negative attitudes toward LGBT+ people in society (In the Name of Love, Oasis Foundation 2017).

As OTN has grown, from one community in Liverpool to 33 across England and Wales today, more and more LGBT+ Christians are finding their way to communities where they can feel safe to explore their faith among friends.

The second Open Table community began at St John’s URC in Warrington in 2015. Gail Yorke, who now leads the community and is an elder in the church, said: “Open Table means everything to me. It has truly saved me.”

Gail explained: “I was at a point of really hating who I was, but Open Table gradually brought me to a point, now, where I can stand and look at myself in a mirror and say, ‘You know what? I actually like you.’ That’s a point I never thought I would get to.”

Four more Open Table communities are now hosted by United Reformed churches, in Cambridge, Birmingham, Guildford and Bromley. With the help of this grant, OTN will support more URC congregations across Britain to welcome, include, affirm and empower LGBT+ people from any Christian tradition, or any or no faith background.

The Open Table community in Cambridge is one of the largest and most active across the Open Table Network, gathering around 35 people twice a month. This community, in partnership with Downing Place URC which hosts it, led a Sunday morning service to mark LGBT+ History Month in February 2022 and 2023, attracting hundreds of people in person and online, the biggest congregations of any service in that church.

Revd Dr Alex Clare-Young, a trans URC minister and Co-Chair of the Open Table Network, said: “It is profoundly encouraging to us that the URC has seen and understood the need that OTN addresses, and the potential of our growing Christian communities. By giving such a large grant, they have witnessed to the expansive and just love of God, and committed to helping us create safer spaces for all.”

Alex added: “This gift gives us hope that other national churches, and other organisations, will soon want to understand the pain and harm which rejection from churches creates, and support us to enable more spaces, where LGBT+ people can find the specific welcome, affirmation and full participation that allows them to come as they are to meet and to be themselves.”

Revd Fiona Bennett (centre), URC General Assembly Moderator, with OTN Co-Chairs Revd Dr Alex Clare-Young (left) and Ms Sarah Hobbs (right) at a vigil for Trans Day of Remembrance at Downing Place United Reformed Church, Cambridge, in November 2022.

Neurodiversity Celebration Week Blog

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It’s Neurodiversity Celebration Week!

This week is “a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. It aims to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported by providing schools, universities, and organisations with the opportunity to recognise the many talents and advantages of being neurodivergent, while creating more inclusive and equitable cultures that celebrate differences and empower every individual” neurodiversityweek.com

We asked some of our neurodiverse team members about what being neurodivergent means to them…

“I love that it is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, as that is exactly how I view my own ADHD—I celebrate it. As I grew up, I always struggled with being distracted and things constantly jumbling around in my head, but it wasn’t until I suffered some bad mental health issues and receive some incredible support that I was then diagnosed with ADHD.

“Suddenly, everything slotted into place across a whole host of things up to that point. I was able to start seeing how the way I functioned helped me be more creative, more innovative in my approach and able to maintain excitement and enthusiasm for complex pieces of work, when previously these things could conversely help drag me down.

“I don’t tend to talk about my ADHD much as I don’t need to, but I recognise that it is there. I use it to help me think differently and have put in place a range of simple mechanisms to help keep me focused, to remember to go back to tasks I get distracted from, and to not letting myself get too carried away with exciting new ideas!

“Well…sometimes I do let myself get a bit too excited about a new idea, but only when I get that gut feel I have unlocked something that has the potential to create a bit of transformation. So here is a big hurrah to celebrating neurodiversity! It makes me who I am…even if it does mean the team have to put up with me humming in meetings sometimes when there is silence to contend with!”

Paul Roberts, he/him, CEO

This poem is an exploration of my own neurodiversity and things that take place within my own mental health: focusing specifically on ADHD & Maladaptive Daydreaming. I come from a ND family, and a lot of things were normalised in my household as a child.

As I’ve gotten older and come to understand more about my own mental health and other impairments that I live with, I feel like I can finally frame my life experiences and step away from the concept of feeling “broken”. Even still, with the knowledge I’ve gained, this poem explores that ongoing struggle of living within a world that wasn’t made for us – and how stepping into the unknown can impact people who struggle with change or processing.

Nothing typical about me

stillness has never come easy to me
nothing feels like those frantic
shallow
breaths
my erratic heart
beating
out-of-time
overtime
sweaty limbs
tangled in-between bed sheets
where I never sleep
just sink deeper into my insecurities

I don’t know how to be “normal”
I have never been “normal”

pretending

playing make believe
stories that you wish were true

reality doesn’t feel real so I create my own
worlds to get lost in

versions of me
that are more than I could ever be
an elevated self
lost in translation
somewhere between the daydream and the present
I don’t always know which is which

happiness unsettles me
it’s like I don’t know how to feel the word
the stillness amongst the chaos
the chaos that has turned into comfort

nothing ties me here
holds me here
and yet my feet don’t tread bravely
they don’t move at all

quaking at the thought of the unknown

even if this step brings everything I’ve asked for
begged for
prayed for

will I be ready
and more importantly
will it be enough?

Nikita (she/they) is a writer, published poet and social commentator who advocates for an intersectional lens and approach to be utilised – she is committed to spotlighting the ‘other’, those who are chronically unheard and underrepresented within society. Nikita is particularly interested in the power of creativity, and how it intersects with disability and identity. 

Nikita Chadha, she/they, Racial Justice Engagement Officer

“Happy Neurodiversity Celebration Week! I really love that the focus of this week is the celebration aspect of being neurodiverse which is something I struggled with for the longest time but now feel towards being an autistic person.

“Being autistic makes me experience the world in different ways but the thing I love most about it is being able to be focused creatively and passionately about something in particular, which is what we call hyper fixation. It’s only in recent years that I was diagnosed with autism, mainly because it had taken me so long to accept this part of myself but I’m so happy that is something that I can now celebrate.

“Growing up had its share of struggles and difficulties, I knew I was different than other people and how I experienced certain things. Learning to love and accept my autistic self has been a journey but one I’m glad that I’ve been on. It has its ups and downs, I don’t always end up in the exact destination that I expect but once you get to the end it’s beautiful.”

Leo Kirkpatrick, he/they, Communications Officer

“It’s such a joy to have a neurodiversity celebration week. For a long time, I assumed that the way I navigated the world was just the way that everybody lived and that some parts of being a person would always feel wildly difficult or confusing.

“Learning more about the richness and variety of neurodiverse experiences and understanding the ways these can be strengths as well as challenges has helped me to learn more about myself and find mechanisms to thrive as someone with ADHD.

“Hopefully neurodiversity celebration week will offer other people the same opportunities to find joy in what makes them different and encourage everybody – neurodivergent or neurotypical – to understand neurodiversity.”

Helen Bowie, they/she, Head of Partnerships & Development

“Though neurodiversity has been present in a lot of my life it has only been a little over two years since starting to accept myself as someone who is autistic and ADHD, and it has been a tumultuous journey.

“The existence of Neurodiversity Celebration Week is so important because societal attitudes towards neurodiversity are overwhelmingly negative and the personal battles, fuelled by stigmas and frustration at struggles caused by living in a world suited to a neurotypical way of being, make it easy to forget to celebrate our neurodivergency.

“Just some positive examples of my neurodiversity are that it makes me a creative thinker, my pattern recognition means I pick up on potential down-the-road concerns that other people don’t think about, my passion for the things I am interested in is so vivid, and my connections with other neurodivergent people is a positive experience which I cannot find the words to convey.

“Neurodivergency, though it comes with its difficulties, is such a beautiful thing and it is extremely empowering to celebrate it.”

Damien Da Silva, he/him, TRANSforming Futures Grants Officer

LGBT+ organisations’ concern as two SNP candidates have not confirmed they would continue with government equality commitments

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National LGBT+ organisations in Scotland have expressed deep concern that two out of three of the candidates for SNP leadership have not confirmed that they would continue with existing Scottish Government equality commitments.

The organisations wrote to all three candidates two weeks ago. With voting starting today, only Humza Yousaf has replied. In his reply, he commits to maintain the existing commitments. His reply can be found here.

Tim Hopkins, Director of the Equality Network said:

“It is a matter of great concern to us that two of the three candidates for First Minister have not confirmed that they will continue with these clear commitments of the current Scottish Government. LGBT+ people will fear that equality could be about to go backwards.”

Dr Rebecca Crowther, Policy Coordinator of the Equality Network, said:

“Two weeks after writing to the candidates asking for a commitment to LGBT+ equality, and after LGBT+ equality has become a repeated talking point within the campaign hustings, we have still had no response from Kate Forbes nor Ash Regan. The commitments that we had asked them to respond to are long established, with work well under way and years in the making. It would be devastating for equalities in Scotland if this work were halted. No response is deeply concerning to the sector.”

Colin Macfarlane, Director Nations Stonewall, said:

“It is disappointing that so far only one candidate to be First Minister has committed to continue the current Scottish Government’s policies on LGBT+ equality.   Scotland has made remarkable progress over the last 20+ years on LGBT+ rights and LGBT+ people. Our friends, families and allies will want to see that continue.  We sincerely hope that the two candidates yet to respond to our letter will make time to do so and commit to make Scotland a country where all LGBT+ people are free to be themselves.”

The letter two weeks ago was from the Equality Network, Scottish Trans, LEAP Sports Scotland, LGBT Youth Scotland, Stonewall Scotland, and LGBT Health and Wellbeing. It can be found here.

It asked candidates to confirm their support for five existing commitments of the Scottish Government:

  1. 1. Honour the Scottish Government’s commitment to ban conversion practices through a bill introduced this year, to protect LGBT+ people from attempts to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, which can cause great harm.
  2. 2. Keep the GRR Bill on the Parliament’s books, and commit to seeking the revocation of the section 35 order whether via the courts or by agreement with the next UK Government, to allow trans people access to a fairer and simpler process for legal recognition of who they truly are.
  3. 3. Honour the Scottish Government’s commitment to improve the health of LGBT+ people, through refreshing and improving the mental health strategy and work to prevent self-harm, and by continuing to fund transformation of NHS gender identity services for trans people, so that LGBT+ people in Scotland are able to live happy and healthy lives.
  4. 4. Show leadership on improving attitudes towards LGBT+ people, at a time when hate crime targeting people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity is on the rise and public discourse, particularly around trans people, is increasingly polarised, to ensure Scotland is a safe and welcoming country for all.
  5. 5. Continue work on implementing LGBT-inclusive education, to ensure that young people can grow up knowing they will be accepted and supported for who they are, can see their families reflected and included in their learning, and to reduce LGBT+ young people’s experiences of bullying because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

International Women’s Day

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International Women’s Day is a day for all women. It’s a day where we celebrate that women are diverse, and complex, and interesting, and it’s also a time to shine a light on the experiences that women of all backgrounds, and identities, face each day.

Each year, to coincide with IWD, The National LGBT Partnership hosts LBT+ Women’s Health Week — a week dedicated to giving queer women a platform, and raising awareness of the health inequalities that impact LBT+ women and femmes.

In a patriarchal, hetero- and cis-normative world, to exist as a queer woman is a superpower. But sadly, all too often, that superpower is invisibility — especially in health care.

While women of all identities are less likely to be believed by medical professionals, and to have to advocate for themselves during appointments, this is amplified even further for women who are Black or Brown, disabled, fat, or queer.

Often, to be a LGBTQIA+ woman is to not only be deprioritised due to your gender (I’m sure that many of us have been told that agonising pain is simply a normal part of our period and that we should just get on with it?), but to also have your queerness misunderstood by those you’ve turned to for help.

Accessing healthcare as a queer woman may look like the following:

  • Being turned away from your cervical screening, because you’re not having sex with cis men, so you’re (incorrectly) told you’re not at risk.
  • Attending a pregnancy-related appointment, and your wife being referred to as your “friend” or “birthing partner”.
  • Your doctor not knowing how to perform a prostate exam on a post-op trans woman, leaving you worried that you could have a serious condition left unfound.
  • Attending a sexual health check-up and only being given advice for having safe sex with cis men, despite being a polyamorous bisexual woman.
  • Spending months worrying about a transvaginal scan, due to dysphoria, only to be misgendered when eventually attending the appointment.
  • Being made to take a pregnancy test at the majority of your healthcare appointments, despite never having a sexual experience with someone who produces sperm.

 

These are just a handful of experiences that have been shared with us over the years of hosting LBT+ Women’s Health Week. Accessing your basic human right of healthcare can feel like wading through treacle — something off-putting enough that many LBT+ women simply stop attending vital appointments.

LBT+ Women’s Health Week is first and foremost for the women who feel ignored, misunderstood and humiliated as a result of their gender and queer identity. It’s a place to be heard, to meet others who have had experiences similar to your own, to come together as a community.

It is too for the healthcare professionals who know they should be doing better. Who desperately want to provide an equal quality of service to those in their care. It’s a space for learning, for being corrected, and for making a vow to do better.

If you’re an LBT+ woman or healthcare professional, we still have some free events this week that you can sign up to: www.consortium.lgbt/nationallgbtpartnership/lbt-womens-health-week/the-national-lgbt-partnership-lbt-womens-health-week-2023-events

You can also read through our previous year’s resources here: www.consortium.lgbt/nationallgbtpartnership/lbt-womens-health-week and keep an eye on our Twitter (@lgbtpartnership) for our new resource, a survey of over 550 women and femme’s experiences, being published in April.

This International Women’s Day, we will be seen.

Laura Clarke (she/they), National LGBT+ Partnership Coordinator

Weymouth Gay Group celebrates 15 years!

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Credit Weymouth Gay Group

So, what do you do if you move into a town and feel like you are the “Only Gay in the village?”

This was the thought of one of the founders (C) of Weymouth Gay Group, 15 years ago. Today you might be tempted to try the numerus dating and social apps, but they were not so prominent back then.

So said C, “I decided to sit in a corner of a pub every week and enjoy a real ale, with the thought that if only one guy turns up to join me that’s a bonus! After spreading a few leaflets around town slowly the numbers attending increased.”

He added “At one time we had over 30 LGBT people regularly attending, with guys traveling from Dorchester, North Dorset and even Somerset to join us. Our numbers are also boosted during the summer with LGBT tourists visiting the area.

“We now meet up twice a week, Thursdays the group meets up in The Swan Weymouth from 8pm, and our Monday meetups have developed into “Meals Out on Mondays~. An opportunity to eat out at the many restaurants that our seaside town offers. This is a way of enjoying quality food and company! The summer months are enjoyed with beach BBQs, and trips to Pride events

“It’s great to see a new shy person blossom over time, and form lifelong friendships and even relationships in our group. We know we have guided many over the years in their personal life journey.”

The second area of our group that has developed over recent years is our outreach through our website and connections with a range of other organisations and groups, to the Dorset LGBT community and beyond.

We are very pleased that our website has been called “The LGBT Bible locally” by the NHS. We have a lot of info there, 25 – 30 Dorset LGBT events each month, local LGBT community news (70+ stories last year), plus our helplines page. During 2022 we produced a poster promoting our helplines page and sent this to all the local Doctors surgeries and other NHS outlets. This has been very well received having one website page devoted to helplines and support groups for LGBT people. It also helps with some of the enquires we get every year, while we offer friendship, we are not a support group, but we are happy to sign post to a range of local, regional and national organisations.

On social media our twitter account has around 2,500 followers, and is, like our website, a brilliant way of keeping up to date with news and info for those who may not find it easy to attend our pub meetups.

We are a member of a number of umbrella LGBT groups including The LGBT Consortium, Dorset LGBT Voices Forum, LGBT Network for Change. We also help to promote groups like The Gay OutDoor Club, GLUG (Scuba diving LGBT group) and many more that have events in our area, on our Events Diary listings as well as on twitter.

That we are still filling a very valuable role for our local LGBT community (both in a pub, and online) is truly amazing after 15 years and is something to celebrate, you are welcomed to join in with us too!

Have you ever felt like you are “the only Gay in the village?” If so, why not try what we have done! Brill to know that we have helped to inspire Taunton Gay Group and others who model their groups on us.

“Real Ale & Real Friends!”

Credit Weymouth Gay Group

Weymouth Gay Group

Email: [email protected]
Website: weymouthgaygroup.weebly.com
Twitter: twitter.com/WeymouthGayGrp