Rishi Madlani and the trans solidarity crossing painted in Marchmont Street

Following last week’s hard-hitting and impactful CNJ issue, written mainly by women, I am thankful for the opportunity to follow with a piece following Transgender Day of Remembrance on Saturday November 20.

For those not familiar, Transgender Day of Remembrance follows Transgender Awareness Week and is an important moment to remember the lives of those who have been taken from us too soon.

We know that many of the LGBTQ+ community face specific and differing challenges in their lives but those faced by our trans siblings are some of the most acute.

From the risk of name-calling or verbal abuse, worse experiences of mental health and most tragically physical assault and murder – the trans community faces much adversity.

Furthermore, we are not societally well set up to support the trans community either nationally or locally. In the UK’s national LGBT+ survey 80 per cent said accessing gender identity services has not been easy – 68 per cent flagging waiting lists were too long. Similarly, when we look at the current processes for a gender recognition certificate, many cited it as too bureaucratic (38 per cent) and too expensive (34 per cent).

So, what are we doing about this now and what more can we do? At the Town Hall we have undertaken awareness training for 80 of our officers through the excellent Gendered Intelligence – to enable them to make better informed policy decisions about trans staff and residents.

We are also lucky in Camden and Islington to have the Forum+ a fantastic LGBT+ charity that celebrates LGBT+ life in our commun­ities and provides support to victims of hate crime.

I want to ensure that all councillors elected in 2022 will have training on LGBT+ issues and specifically trans awareness but I urge all readers in Camden to think about how they can take action in all our local organisations – from tenants and residents associations to community centres – to ensure we continue to make this borough live up to its radical history of being an inclusive place to live, work and play for all.

This trans awareness day I commit as the borough LGBT+ champion to being a more vocal and visible trans ally and I urge all of us to do the same – in our commun­ities and organisations.

Rishi Madlani
•  Rishi Madlani is a Labour councillor in Bloomsbury Ward