{"id":353,"date":"2025-08-01T09:55:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angesfinanciers.org\/?p=353"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:06:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:06:37","slug":"architecture-profession-must-engage-in-ensuring-safety-for-trans-people-says-queerscapes-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/01\/architecture-profession-must-engage-in-ensuring-safety-for-trans-people-says-queerscapes-founder\/","title":{"rendered":"Architecture profession “must engage” in ensuring safety for trans people says Queerscapes founder"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"London<\/div>\n

Architecture institutions must respond with action following the UK<\/a>‘s Supreme Court gender ruling, Lenny Rajmont, founder of LGBTQ+<\/a> architecture group Queerscapes, argues in this interview<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 100,000 people took to the streets<\/a> last Saturday for this year’s London Trans+ Pride<\/a> march, which the organisers claimed was the largest event of its kind in the world.<\/p>\n

It was the first since a landmark UK Supreme Court ruling<\/a> in April, which stated the legal definition of a woman and a man is based on biological sex \u2013 affecting the rights<\/a> of trans people to engage with gender-specific services and facilities.<\/p>\n

“Architectural institutions should now urgently review their codes of conduct”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rajmont, who founded the Queerscapes<\/a> platform for queer and trans spatial designers in 2023, said the ruling will have a marked impact on the built environment and that architecture organisations have a responsibility to set protections related to how trans people use space, as well as for trans professionals in the industry.<\/p>\n

“Architectural institutions should now urgently review their codes of conduct, update guidance, and actively consult with trans and non-binary people to understand the real-world impacts of the ruling,” Rajmont told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“Without institutional leadership, the ruling risks entrenching exclusion and undermining the safety, dignity, and visibility of trans people in architecture and beyond,” he continued.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, the profession must engage, as these issues directly impact the design of built environments, particularly around retrofit strategies, changing facilities, single-sex spaces, and toilet provision.”<\/p>\n

Trans people “not permitted” to use single-sex toilets according to the gender they identify<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the Supreme Court ruling, the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) released an interim update<\/a> outlining how the ruling should be interpreted.<\/p>\n

It stated that in workplaces and services open to the public, “trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men’s facilities”.<\/p>\n

It also stated, “where facilities are available to both men and women, trans people should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use,” and encouraged the provision of mixed-sex toilets, washing and changing facilities in addition to single-sex facilities.<\/p>\n

However, trans people have reported feeling concerned for their safety over being excluded from using single-sex facilities according to their self-identified gender,\u00a0with some resorting to carrying radar keys to gain access to public disabled toilets<\/a>.<\/p>\n