Guildhall Solidarity Rally for trans teenager Brianna Ghey
'We must protect trans youth' - Nina Pulis
A solidarity rally has been held for for trans teenager Brianna Ghey.
The rally took place held in the Guildhall Square on Wednesday (February 15) evening.
Around 100 people gathered for the vigil for Brianna, a 16 year old tran girl who was murdered in Warrington last weekend.
Nina Pulis, one of the vigil organisers and representative of the trans community said to the people in attendance: "I was heartbroken and angry when I heard the news about Brianna Ghey and my heart goes out to her family.
"Even more so when I heard how the school had ignored allegations of bullying and letters from her parents saying she was being singled out.
"Brianna deserved not just to exist as her authentic self, but to be celebrated and thrive. The far right are on the rise and this includes the war on the trans community, Brianna has been failed over and over again and will continue to be failed as even her death certificate will likely misgender her due to reactionary gender recognition laws.
"But to say the system has failed her would be inaccurate, the system is working exactly how it has been set up to, targeting the most vulnerable and profiting from tragedy. This is a time to be sad but it’s also a time to be angry, the normalised violence against Brianna and the rest of the trans community needs to be put to an end. We all have a responsibility to challenge the ways in which our government and media dehumanises transgender people. We must protect trans youth."
The mayor Sandra Duffy was also in attendance and she passed on her sympathy to Brianna's family and stated solidarity and support to the local trans community from the Council.
A beautiful poem was then read by Jennifer Clifford. Mourners laid flowers on the steps of the Guildhall.