Monday, April 22, 2024

Plans submitted to restore Manchester’s trans monument to counter anti-trans political and media rhetoric

‘We’ve observed a troubling surge in anti-trans rhetoric, with media coverage often sensationalised for ‘click-bait’ or as a political scapegoat, leading to consequences for the trans community.’



Left Foot Forward
 20 April, 2024 


Aimed at shifting the rising anti-trans narrative peddled by some politicians and much of the right-wing media, an application for a new monument to replace the National Trans Memorial sculpture in Manchester’s iconic Gay Village has been submitted.

The original monument was irreparably damaged in a fire in 2022. It was the first and remains the only monument of its kind in Britain.

The plans were submitted by the national transgender charity Sparkle, in alliance with New Practice, a women-led and LGBTQ+ architectural practice, and the global professional services company Arup.

Commenting on the planning application, Jay Crawford, chair of Sparkle said: “It was important to the charity that the views and lived experience of the communities we serve helped shape the project to replace the previous memorial, so it’s fantastic that a trans person and their allies submitted a visionary design which fulfilled the original brief in such a captivating and uplifting way.”

Tony Lovell, chief operating officer at Arup said the company is “proud to be part of this historic project that celebrates the diversity and resilience of the transgender community.

“As a firm that values inclusion and social impact, we are committed to creating spaces that reflect the needs and aspirations of all people.”

The design of the new monument was conceived by Bek Ziola, a senior architect at New Practice. Named the ‘Passing on Light,’ the monument aims to provide a place of contemplation and reflection, as well as being symbolic of the resilience and vitality of trans and gender diverse people.

Speaking to Pink News, Ziola commented on rising anti-trans rhetoric.

“We’ve observed a troubling surge in anti-trans rhetoric, with media coverage often sensationalised for ‘click-bait’ or as a political scapegoat, leading to consequences for the trans community. I’ve personally witnessed and experienced the impact of this,” said the architect.

In the same week that the news emerged that plans to rebuild the monument in Manchester had been submitted, the right-wing press lived up to its reputation of promoting anti-trans rhetoric and political scapegoating.

Writing for the Express, Tory MP Miriam Cates, who is well-known for her anti-trans campaigning, framing it as being centred on women’s rights, argued that a gender identity clinic is ‘not fit for purpose’ and served as a ‘focal point for a cabal of pro-trans activists to push their agenda on vulnerable children.”

But even Express readers were keen to share their disproval of the article.

“Looking forward to her [Cates] losing her seat later this year. And she’ll be far from alone,” one reader commented.

But the MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge is no stranger to being criticised for anti-trans rhetoric. In response to her comments earlier this year that Scotland’s gender recognition reform law would make it “vastly easier for a predator to gain access to children” and that it would have a “chilling effect” on single-sex spaces, Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle said the speech was “probably one of the worst transphobic, dog whistle speeches” he had heard in a “long time.”

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward

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