SYP Visit's MPs in Parliament

On the 1st July, Space Youth Project travelled to London and visited Parliament to meet with Dorset MPs. The aim of this meeting was to allow young LGBT+ people to have voice in the conversation surrounding trans rights. It allowed them to share their experiences and concerns regarding what it’s like being LGBT+ in Dorset and ask their local MPs to step up for them.

Here’s what the attending young people had to say:

“For many LGBT+ young people, especially those that are trans and non-binary, the environment in which they grow up and discover their identities feels increasingly hostile despite recent progress. A change in government and the shifting politics of Dorset since the general election in July last year provides an opportunity for young people impacted by this hostility to not only engage meaningfully with their elected politicians, but to feel as if they can be a part of our democratic system as a country; to feel as though their views are expressed and that their best interests are acted upon in a meaningful way. That's why it was immensely important that we met with five Dorset MPs to discuss the issues that are crucial to our lives and our experiences as young people.

At the meeting we addressed the urgent need for politicians of all stripes to come together to find common ground on what has too often been an overly party-political and divisive issue. While there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding government policy in this area, being able to come together to discuss these issues in real-terms and to establish a dialogue between Space Youth Project and Dorset's MPs brought me hope. Hope that one day the young people of our organisation will no longer be used as political pawns and instead will be able to live freely and safely within society.” - Sacha

“I think that the parliament trip was important because we had an opportunity to speak about the struggles of trans young people that aren’t nearly as known about or understood as they should be, and we got to educate people who can advocate for us on the complexities and emotional toll of trans struggles that they were previously unaware of. I think we also managed to convey the perspective that the trans community has on the current issues surrounding us, which supported our demand for more public awareness, support and advocacy.

Overall, I think that the trip was successful and that we managed to have constructive conversations about the things that were important to us and that the people who want to advocate for us have a greater understanding of how to do so and why it's necessary.” - Rowan

“It was a brilliant experience and I'm so grateful for being given the opportunity to go to Parliament. In the past few years, it feels like we've taken a step backwards with regards to how people view the LGBTQ+ community, trans people in particular. Living today as a young queer person is scary and can feel like the world is against us, but this reassured me that there are many politicians who still support us and are willing to fight for our rights.” - Connie

We share our thanks for all the MPs that took their time to attend our meeting and get to know our young people. A big thank you especially to Tom Hayes, who was instrumental in organising this event.

Sherborne Pride!

On the 6th July, Space held a stall at Sherborne Pride! Though it was really windy at times, and a little rainy to start, it was a really lovely event! Full of community spirit. Being so close to the parade as they walked by was great as we were able to see everything, especially all the fun outfits, and placards. 

We were lucky enough to have a lot of people come to our stall and to get to talk to everyone, listen to their stories and laugh with them. We raised over £200 for Space Youth Project to enable us to continue supporting young people, and we’re incredibly grateful for everyone who donated, bought from the stall, or just stopped to have a look and a chat, or grab a free sticker or lollipop ;)

Steph - Supernova

Phoebe's Corner

Phoebe is returning to the UK on the 22nd to start University, here she lists some of the things she has done, memories collected;

Finishing up my time here, being at my job has been fun. I’ve been helping clean where the archives keep the old documents, having to use small hoovers to get the dust off the books and then survey their condition, I’ve been cleaning the old 1800s books, I had to use a conservation hoover and get the dust off, I’ve also been helping clean “the stack” where all the documents are kept, there’s a lot of them and you have to empty one shelf at a time, wipe it and put the stuff back, it takes hours, wiping all the shelves down also which is taking hours but we do find some hidden gems which is always fun.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here, exploring, wildlife watching and meeting lots of new people. It’s something I will remember forever. It’s been challenging at times like some of the culture is so different compared to the UK but nothing too much. However, I am very excited to go home and eat fresh fruit and vegetables!

I will miss the penguins, I had a penguin nibble my leg once, then I got penguin fleas, I’ve been yelled at by sealions a few times, I think the coolest thing was swimming with penguins at berthas beach, they were surfing in the waves and watching us paddle, You’re not allowed to get closer than a few metres to the animals unless they come to you, the sea lions are highly memorable, the beautiful sunsets and all the travelling, I will definitely go back one day.

Since being here I’ve visited so many places around the east and west side of the islands including Saunders Island, Whale point, Sealion island, Pebble Island, Berkeley sound, Johnson’s harbour, Volunteer point, Darwin, Goose green and Stanley of course. I’ve been lucky enough to explore Chile as well and briefly stopped at Ascension Island.

When I fly back, I get to Brize Norton first and we’re staying with some friends for a few days to recover from the flight, then I’ll go to London and then back to Weymouth from there, I’m going to try and make it to the next Weymouth space meeting when I’m back

The next step then will be to move to somewhere near London, go to college and get into a Uni, and I’ll go on from there.

Thank you all for keeping up with my newsletter, this has been a wonderful experience documenting my journey, and thank you to Charity from Space for suggesting to do this and being an amazing help as always.