Lily Madigan

Lily Madigan (born 16 January 1998) is an activist within the British Labour Party.[1][2] She was the first openly trans woman to hold the position of Constituency Labour Party Women's Officer, having been elected in November 2017 by the Labour Party in the constituency Rochester and Strood.[3][4][5] Madigan's election as a Women's Officer was controversial within the Labour Party.[6] A complaint by Madigan alleging transphobia against women's officer Anne Ruzylo was not upheld, but led Ruzylo to stand down.[3][7][8][9] In 2019, Madigan was elected the national women's officer for Labour Students.[10]

Lily Madigan
Born (1998-01-16) 16 January 1998
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour Party
Websitelilymadigan.org

In 2016, Madigan took legal action while at St Simon Stock Catholic School, after the school made her wear a male uniform, continued to use her deadname and denied her access to female toilets.[11][12][13][14]

Following Madigan's election as Women's Officer and around the time of Madigan's application to the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme, five critical articles were written about Madigan in The Times.[7] Madigan was rejected from the programme, but the articles in The Times were condemned by 55 activists involved in the programme who applauded the party for "supporting the principle that every woman" should get the chance to participate. Signatories included Labour MPs Rosie Duffield and Preet Gill.[15] These incidents led to Madigan receiving online abuse.[7]

Madigan attended the University for the Creative Arts, at which she ran the LGBTQ+ liberation group, as well as the women's liberation group, and was Campus Executive Officer. The students' union put out a solidarity statement with Madigan, commenting on the attention she received in the media.[16] In 2018, Madigan was listed as one of Teen Vogue's "21 Under 21".[4]

Madigan’s association with the Labour Party came to an end when, in 2019 the party voted to disaffiliate Labour Students - the organisation of which Madigan was part - effectively abolishing Labour Students altogether.[17]

References

  1. "Transgender Schoolgirl Threatened With Suspension For Wearing Female Clothes". HuffPost UK. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  2. LGBTQ+ community members share messages and support for Lesbian Visibility Day, Independent.ie, 23 November 2019
  3. "Lily Madigan: I want to be Labour's first transgender MP". BBC Newsbeat. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  4. Diavolo, Lucy (5 November 2018). "21 Under 21: Lily Madigan's Political Moxie Is Fueled by Bigots' Attention". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  5. Bannerman, Lucy (20 November 2017). "Trans teenager Lily Madigan voted in as a Labour women's officer". The Times. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  6. "UK transgender rights row intensifies as book fair is cancelled". The Guardian. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  7. Butterworth, Benjamin (5 December 2017). "Trans teen Lily Madigan begs the media and anti-trans activists to stop attacking her". PinkNews. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  8. "Lily Madigan: The Labour women's officer aiming to becoming Britain's first transgender MP". TalkRadio.com. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  9. "Lily Madigan: I'm a transgender teen agitator; I make an ideal Labour Women's Officer". The Times. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  10. "Rania Ramli elected Labour Students chair as Corbynsceptics sweep to victory". LabourList. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  11. Bereford, Meka (15 October 2016). "School threatens to suspend trans student for wearing female uniform". PinkNews. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  12. "Maidstone transgender teen Lily Madigan begins treatment". BBC News. 8 November 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  13. Oppenheim, Maya (24 February 2018). "Lily Madigan: Meet the woman who wants to be Labour's first transgender MP". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  14. "Transgender teenager begins treatment". BBC News. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  15. "Jo Cox women's leadership scheme rebukes The Times over attacks on transgender teen". PinkNews. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  16. "An open letter in solidarity with Lily Madigan". UCA Students' Union. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  17. "Labour votes to scrap student wing ahead of party conference". the Guardian. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
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