Trans Pedestrian Crossing Prompts Lawsuit Against Labour-Led Council
A Labour-run London council faces legal action over road crossings painted in the colours of the transgender Pride flag. The Telegraph has the story.
Camden council installed the painted blue, pink and white crossings nearly four years ago in Bloomsbury in a bid to “help celebrate transgender awareness” and to act “as a reminder of the rich LGBT+ history in Camden.”
But Blessing Olubanjo, a Camden resident, is now threatening to bring a legal challenge to have the four crossings at Tavistock Place and Marchmont Street removed or redesigned because, she claims, it “constitutes unlawful political messaging”.
The 57 year-old claims the installations, which cost £10,464 in taxpayers’ money, constitute a violation of political neutrality laws under the Local Government Act 1986, as well as an infringement of freedom of belief and expression under the Human Rights Act 1998.
The NHS administrator, who is an Evangelical Christian, told the Telegraph: “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.” …
Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, who is supporting Ms Olubanjo, added: “Not only is this crossing a matter of public safety and Christian freedom, it’s about the misuse of public resources for political campaigning.
“The crossing is a visual endorsement of a contested ideology, installed by a public authority in breach of its legal duties.
“This is not the role of local government.”
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Good for her. Don’t you just wish some people would turn up with some black paint and rollers during the night and remove this abortion?
Regarding the black paint and rollers, we need the equivalent of the Blade Runners with the road cameras.
Its time this lunacy stopped, they claim it makes society more inclusive, yet it is quite the reverse, it discriminates against the majority.
I’ve had a quick look at the regulations and I suspect this kind of crossing is illegal. I wonder if people could just drive straight across without stopping for pedestrians.
if it is not covered under the regulations the council should perhaps be prosecuted. I think the authorities are another quango so will no doubt do what ever they want whilst our elected MPs draw large salaries and pensions for making the lives of the citizens a misery.
Correct. This abomination is totally non compliant with The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 Schedule 14 s.18 which prescribes stripes of particular dimensions. Therefore this is not a pedestrian crossing and drivers who infringe any traffic regs have an absolute defence. Injured Pedestrians should seek damages against the council. Who are the woke muppets who did this and is woke culture so toxic that the Highways team are scared to point this out?
It’s illegality was my first thought too. No way it meets the proper standards.
There’s one in Reading as well, originally a rainbow and meanwhile, trans-updated. It has also been repainted for at least another time as the effect of thousands of people (leads from inner town to the train station) stepping on that all day tends to render it rather unsightly after a few years.
While stepping onto a pride symbol has a certain charm (apparently, nobody thought about the symbolism of that), I don’t think it should be there and the maintenance cost is probably way higher than for something that’s less suceptible to becoming damaged and less expensive to restore.
OTOH, what would the Council otherwise do with all the money it collects? They might even have to start filling potholes!
These are not legal pedestrian crossings according the the Road Traffic Act. They must be black and white.
Strictly speaking they do not give pedestrians the right to cross, and any consequent collision would be on difficult legal grounds.
It looks to me like a lights-controlled crossing. I think there are push buttons on the poles on the far side of the crossing. If a driver (or bicycle rider) jumped the red light and crashed into someone there should be little question who was at fault.
It’s an offensive thing and a crazy waste of money though.
Light controlled crossings are only defined by lights and a couple of dotted lines. Again defined by the Road Traffic Act regulations. This one is not a legal crossing of ANY TYPE.
Still, on a positive note, we can literally stamp on the symbol of transgenderism.
Good for her.
Agree about the black key paint
She didn’t have to play the religious card though, in fairness, did she? A bit like the nurse who refused to call the paedophile patient from a men’s prison by female pronouns. To my mind, what religion you are ( or are not ) is neither here nor there and shouldn’t add any weight to your defense/complaint. Otherwise aren’t you just stooping to the same level as the Muslims who want to cry about how offended they are about everything, because they are essentially society’s perma-victims and ‘those that must be appeased’? 🙄 She should have just mentioned “taxpayer” and that’s sufficient.
Anyway, I hope she succeeds and these eyesores symbolic of degeneracy and child mutilation are removed. Does society really need anymore flaming “awareness”, seeing as this crap is shoved down our throats all of the time, including outside of a designated month, so nobody can fail to be aware as there’s no escaping it? 😬
Why are the views of taxpayers, or your opinion, or mine, a standard for anything?
What about the Highway Code? Crossing are supposed to be regulation black and white. If someone gets run over by a car failing to stop, can the driver claim that he didn’t see a clear properly marked pedestrian crossing?
Shouldn’t it read SWING BOTH WAYS?
How the hell did it cost over £10,000 to paint a few stripes on the road regardless of what colour they are.
What is your defence for running the person over?
” I was confused by the spillage of pink and blue paint , M’lud”