We are The Nottingham Pastel Project- a grassroots LGBTQ+ activism group who are seeking to establish Nottingham as the UKs first Trans Sanctuary City.

 

With trans rights and the trans community coming under increasing attacks from our Government and hate groups, we want to ensure that Nottingham is a city whose community shows solidarity and support for the national Trans community and acts as a safe haven for all Trans and gender non-conforming people. Our aims are to improve trans healthcare in the region, support schools in providing LGBTQ+ education and protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination, protecting our community from harm and prejudice, and promoting trans visibility and trans joy!

 

With this petition we are calling on Nottingham City Council to aid us in our goal by implementing the following changes:

·       Release a statement affirming that trans men are men, trans women are women, non-binary people are non-binary and trans rights are human rights.

·       Facilitate and strongly encourage all councilors to attend relevant training to learn of the challenges faced by the trans community.

·       Release a statement confirming that anti-trans and so-called Gender Critical hate groups will not be granted a platform in publicly owned Nottingham venues.

·       Write to the Secretary of State for Health and Adult Social Care and NHS England to call for the Government to:

o   Commit to setting up more Trans Healthcare Pilot schemes- similar to The Indigo Service.

o   Provide the funding and resources necessary to increase the capacity of and improve access to trans and non-binary healthcare, specifically reducing wait times at the Nottingham Gender Clinic.

o   Improve the functioning of the Nottingham Gender Clinic by developing strategies to recruit more clinicians to become gender identity specialists and train staff across Nottingham NHS on issues affecting trans and non-binary people (an effective way of achieving this would be to encourage Nottingham Practices to sign up for LGBT Foundation’s Pride in Practice training scheme).

o   Commit to effectively and regularly consulting trans and non-binary people and groups (such as Gender GP) in the design and delivery of trans and non-binary healthcare.

·       Conduct an audit of Council services to ensure they are as accessible as possible to trans and non-binary people, including how the Council can be an inclusive employer of Trans and Non-binary people.

·       Strongly encourage all Nottingham employers to enlist in LGBTQ+ training- we would recommend the WE Project (https://we-project.eu/

·       Strongly encourage all Nottingham secondary schools to sign up for the Just Like Us School Diversity Program in order to positively promote and support LGBTQ+ students. Implement this alongside dedicate trans inclusion toolkits aimed at educating students on Trans and Non-binary identities.

·       Officially establish the area surrounding Broad Street as ‘The Nottingham Rainbow Quarter’.

·       Declare that our city is a welcoming, tolerant and progressive city that will not allow hate and hate groups to divide our communities.

 

We believe this is an important step in achieving our end goal of creating a city where all LGBTQ+ people feel safe and free to be their authentic self.

 

By signing this petition you are showing your support and helping to convince the Nottingham City Council that this is the right course of action.

 

Thank you!