Westminster student organises and runs transgender awareness stall for Transgender Remembrance Day

Nevena focused her stall on transgender healthcare, providing information about accessing gender affirming care, what types of gender affirming care can be accessed through the National Health Service, gender dysphoria clinics in London, information on common issues faced and a list of additional resources.

Nevena also created pamphlets that shared information on trans healthcare, which summarised the previous information into a pamphlet which people could take with them, as well as seeking support from General Physicians (GPs), which summarised information from a TransActual UK article. This brochure covered a variety of topics such as changing one’s name and gender markers, referral to a gender dysphoria clinic, cancer screening, bridging prescriptions, and additional information. TransActual UK is a digital magazine that shares facts about trans rights, UK law, NHS healthcare and transphobia. Lastly, the pamphlet on safe binding covered the basics of binding, safety tips, additional information and websites for further support. All three of these pamphlets included QR codes on the front pages, allowing readers to access the main source of information.

Nevena worked with Aurora Convey, a community organiser at UWSU who originally planned the event. During the event, they spoke to people, handed out flyers and other goodies and answered questions.

Transgender Remembrance Day commemorates the lives lost to anti-transgender violence and discrimination. It follows Transgender Awareness Week which is between 13-19 November. Most people in the UK claim never to have met anyone who is transgender or non-binary. Public lack of awareness of the lives, experiences and histories of this long-marginalised group remains widespread. With increasing numbers of students identifying as transgender or non-binary, both at Westminster and elsewhere, Transgender Awareness Week seeks to promote understanding.

About the stall, Nevena Martinovic said: “The goal of this stall was to bring awareness to transgender experiences within Westminster and to educate students about gender affirming healthcare. We want to give students and teachers more knowledge about the resources available. Aurora focused on Westminster by sharing information on changing names and gender markers, and I focused on gender affirming care in the NHS. We are aiming to run the stall again in a different campus, and we hope that the information we shared makes transgender and queer people at Westminster feel supported and seen.”

Aurora Convey added: “The reception to the stall at Cavendish was incredibly supportive. Both students and colleagues stopped by to listen to us talk about pressing issues and provided their own insights into how they support students in their classes and how they think we should proceed.

“To this end, I think in the current day where there is a rampant spike in intolerance and injustice to anything deemed ‘unnatural’ or subject to rampant misinformation, it is more important than ever that we as students and colleagues of the University work as one to provide a safe space for all our students who are expressing themselves in a way that is not their assigned sex at birth or those who are further along their journey to themselves.  

“Above all, if there is one thing I would like people to come away with, it's that the abuse and hatred that people go through to express themselves is unacceptable and we have to do our best to support these students.”  

This stall directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education and 5: Gender Equality. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.

Learn more about support for LGBT students at the University of Westminster.