fbpx

Speak to a member of the Mermaids team. 08088010400

Blog

Mermaids Press

Trans youth need supportive schools

All young people deserve an accepting and supportive school environment to learn and be their authentic selves. The UK Government’s draft trans guidance for schools in England seeks to prevent that. Its approach is unworkable, out of touch and absurd.  Rather than listening to trans young people and reflecting best practice of inclusive educators across the UK, the Government has created more confusion for schools and is putting young people at risk. It is difficult to understand how aspects of this draft guidance, including automatically excluding trans pupils from facilities, sport bans or allowing students to be misgendered are compatible…

Read news

Mermaids Press

Family Day: A time for connection and belonging

Cameron (they/them) reflects on their second Family Day as a volunteer with Mermaids. It’s the night before my second Mermaids’ Family Day. I am sitting snug on a couch with a cup of tea and some trifle, watching the Barbie movie with another Mermaids volunteer, her partner and their dogs. It seems unthinkable at this point that I had only met these people for the first time just a few hours earlier. It felt like I was reconnecting with some old friends, or that despite never having actually met before, we had always been connected in some way.  This feeling…

Read news

Mermaids Press

How my favourite teacher helped me to accept myself as a teenager

Johanna (she/her) reflects on how a quiet act of allyship from her favourite teacher made a world of difference to her while she was closeted at school. Quiet support at school made a world of difference to me as a closeted trans teenager. I was 17, aware that I was not cisgender, and absolutely terrified. Although I felt unable to truly come out, I still experimented with my gender expression, namely by maintaining long hair and painted nails. In my sixth and final year of high school I took Advanced Higher Drama and began to show a keen interest in…

Read news

Mermaids Press

Statement

On 25 November 2022 we announced that Susie Green had left Mermaids. Following this, various media outlets reported that Susie has resigned from the organisation due to issues in relation to her leadership of the organisation. This was not correct and this false speculation has been upsetting to Susie, who has been involved with Mermaids for many years. We regret that we did not address this speculation at the time and are sorry for any negative impact this reporting has had on Susie and her family. Throughout her time with the organisation Susie has shown hard work, passion and commitment…

Read news

Mermaids Press

Statement in response to Conservative Party conference

In the last week, senior Conservatives, including the Prime Minister, have used their Party Conference to distract from the real social, economic and environmental issues faced by everyone in the UK by repeatedly sharing transphobic rhetoric and undermining the existence and rights of the trans community. Nothing that has been said is a change to the law, or to the rights of our community, but these statements further legitimise the harassment which many trans young people and their families experience every day in the media, at home, at work, school and online. Trans young people and their families are asking…

Read news

Mermaids Press

Goodbye Twitter, hello TikTok

At Mermaids, we are committed to using our social media platforms to support our charitable aims to embrace and empower trans young people and their families, and educate the wider public on the issues they face. We believe that as a platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, no longer supports these aims.  For some time now, it has been clear that our values as an organisation are at odds with X, as the platform’s guidelines and company ethics do not encourage a safe, healthy or inclusive environment for our community to engage with us in. For these reasons, we have…

Read news

Mermaids Press

Changes to the UK equalities’ watchdog technical guidance for schools: What it means for trans young people

Mermaids’ Policy team looks at recent changes to the EHRC’s technical guidance for how schools should implement the Equality Act, and what it might mean for trans youth. What have the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said? The EHRC have recently made changes to their technical guidance for how schools in England should implement the Equality Act 2010.  Robin Moira White, a barrister specialising in discrimination, has disputed its interpretation of existing equalities law.  It is important to note that the law has not changed, nor is this the long-awaited trans schools guidance promised by the UK Government. In…

Read news

Mermaids Press

Mermaids Governance Review by NCVO

Mermaids has been supporting transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse young people to survive and thrive since 1995 and has been a registered charity since 2015. We’ve experienced significant growth and change in that time, and in 2022-23 our income exceeded £2,000,000 for the first time, while we supported over 10,000 individuals.  Given this growth, and following our report into equity, diversity and inclusion, which highlighted significant concerns about governance and leadership at Mermaids, the trustees decided to commission a comprehensive, independent review of our governance. We knew that doing so would invite ever more scrutiny into our organisation at an already…

Read news

Mermaids Press

Statement on the ruling in Mermaids v Charity Commission and LGB Alliance

In June 2021, Mermaids, supported by a coalition of LGBT+ organisations, appealed the decision by the Charity Commission to register LGB Alliance (LGBA) as a charity. We argued that LGBA shouldn’t be recognised as a charity because it was focused on hostile anti-trans activism and not (as it claimed) on the promotion of lesbian, gay and bisexual rights.  The hearing took place over seven days in September and November 2022, and the Tribunal handed down its decision on Thursday 6 July 2023. Their decision is that Mermaids doesn’t have legal standing to bring the appeal. Standing in this context is…

Read news

Mermaids Press

A day with the UN’s Independent Expert on SOGI

Elijah, a member of Mermaids’ Youth Advisory Panel, had the opportunity to give evidence to Mr Victor Madrigal Borloz, the United Nations’ Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), during his visit to the UK.  Victor Madrigal-Borloz visited the UK to listen to a range of stakeholders, including Mermaids, as part of his report into the human rights of LGBT+ people in the UK.  Now that the Independent Expert’s end of mission statement (TW: references to suicide) is released, Elijah recounts his experience and what the day signified for him personally. As…

Read news