Camden Council could encounter legal action due to its Transgender Awareness Crossing, a road crossing painted pink, blue and white.

Introduced almost four years ago at Tavistock Place and Marchmont Street in honour of Transgender Awareness Week, the crossings are outlined in a decision report proposal as an ‘important step in supporting the LGBTQ+ community […] within the fabric of Camden’s public realm’.

Camden resident Blessing Olubanjo, backed by the Christian Legal Centre, has now threatened to proceed with a Judicial Review unless the council redesigns or removes the crossings.

Equality Duty

The pre-action letter argues that the council has breached the Public Sector Equality Duty, citing alleged issues of unlawful political publicity and improper use of public funds due to the crossings’ reported cost of £10,000.

Mrs Olubanjo said: ‘I brought this case because I believe in fairness, freedom of belief, and the proper role of public institutions. As a Christian and a taxpayer, I should not be made to feel excluded or marginalised by political symbols in public spaces.

‘This crossing sends a message that only one viewpoint is welcome, and that’s not right in a truly democratic society. I’m standing up not just for myself, but for everyone who feels silenced or sidelined by discredited harmful activism forced on the public by ideologically captured local authorities.’

“No place for hate.”

However, the council has confirmed it intends to reject the arguments in the letter, reinforcing that ‘Camden is “no place for hate”’.

A council spokesperson said that the crossings are ‘a visual statement to help celebrate transgender awareness’, serving as a ‘reminder of the rich LGBTQ+ history and daily life in the Bloomsbury area and across Camden’.

‘We have a strong and continuing history of respect and support for everyone in our borough. We fight discrimination in all its forms and this includes being an ally to our trans residents’, they added.