The candidate said: "The fight for LGBTQ+ rights is far from over. Labour has failed to deliver on promises and continues cuts that hit the most vulnerable. Only the Greens stand firm on taxing the rich, protecting protest, and defending the community in Brighton & Hove."
This article is part of Scene Magazine’s coverage of the Queen’s Park by-election on 18 September 2025. Each candidate has been invited to share their LGBTQ+ policy agenda, priorities for Queen’s Park, and reasons why LGBTQ+ voters might consider supporting them. You can read the other candidates’ contributions here in our dedicated election coverage section.
It’s undeniable that the rights of the LGBTQ+ community are under threat at the moment. Many voters last year believed that Labour might be a vehicle for justice and progressive change.
In a shameful direction, Labour has continued the Tory legacy of inflicting suffering on the most vulnerable in society, like the long-promised ban on conversion practices that has been delayed and heartless cuts to disability support.
Keir Starmer has been explicit that he does not believe that trans women are women, and Labour have used the so-called EHRC ‘guidance’—drafted with zero input from the very people it affects—to inflict maximum cruelty.
It’s also clear that brutal cuts continued gleefully by a Reform-aping Labour Party have hit LGBTQ+ people hard. Restrictions on access to medication. Critical community support networks being crushed by financial hardship.
LGBTQ+ young people—already at greater risk of homelessness—are finding it even harder to access safe, reliable, and affordable housing. I refuse to stand by and do nothing.
Just as with disability cuts, just as with public services, and just as with austerity overall, the root cause is the same: inequality, driven by corporate fat-cats and the super rich.
Greens are the only party not reliant on billionaire donors and the revolving doors of Westminster. We need to tax the rich and build a better society for everyone: to nationalise public transport and public services, and ensure reliable, free access to healthcare for all.
We need rent controls, and to finally make corporate landlords feel the heat. We’ll continue to call for an end to complicity in genocide in Gaza. And we need to stand firm in defending the right to protest and fight for our rights.
The fight for justice and dignity cannot and will not end until it is won. We will not allow our concerns to go unheard.
Not only that, we need to push for so much more: we need more inclusive education; more funding for grassroots community actions supporting LGBTQ+ and marginalised communities; better support for trans healthcare and for LGBTQ+ refugees; and to hold the line against transphobia, biphobia, homophobia and queer erasure.
Sadly, the reality of our struggle is part of this very election, with candidates who themselves are openly hostile to LGBTQ+ people’s right to exist. Scene itself has reported on the shameful views of Labour candidate Simon Charleton—yet for all her supposed allyship, Labour council leader Bella Sankey continues to enthusiastically support him.
But my position, and that of the Green Party, is clear: trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary people exist.
There is so much to love and cherish about our brilliant, resilient LGBTQ+ community here in Brighton & Hove—and I stand in absolute solidarity in our struggle for liberation.
Here in Queen’s Park, that is exactly what I’ll do on local issues too: I will work and fight for you. So many residents have told me of how they’ve been let down, ignored, and failed by Labour.
Residents trapped in ‘temporary accommodation’ for 10 years, or living in squalid conditions forced upon them by predatory landlords. Overflowing bins and missed collections. A park in dire need of proper care.
I want to keep pushing to clean up our streets, demand rent controls and truly affordable housing, and fight against the injustice happening right here in our city.
I want to build a better and more equal Queen’s Park. As a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, I will fight for our rights—and want us to do it together.
