Ciera Taylor — member of the Young Transgender Centre of Excellence — wins two prestigious awards — Leicester LGBT Centre

For over a decade, the Lord Lieteniuents Young Person of the Year awards have been held in Leicester and celebrate the achievements of young people both from Leicester and Leicestershire more widely. There were six awards available including Young Braveheart of the Year and overall Young Person of the Year.

The LGB&T Centre nominated Ciera for the Young Braveheart of the Year as they felt that she was truly deserving of the award. Not only has Ciera overcome some really difficult challenges in the last 15 months — much like many of the young people in the YTCE — she truly is a wonderful representative for the project and a source of support for so many of the other young people.

Ciera has talked about her experiences on local radio, regional television and wants desperately to raise awareness so that the experiences of future young transgender people will not only be better than her own, but better than all of the other young transgender people who are part of the YTCE project.

Ciera is an asset to the project and is a constant source of support and kindness to all of the young people we support. Ciera is everybody’s friend and genuinely cares so much about everyone in the project. Therefore, she isn’t just dealing with her own situation but also helping others in a similar situation to her own, to explore their feelings and emotions and move forward with their lives.

Reflecting on the evening, Lisa Vine — Project Lead said: “I’m so pleased that my colleagues here at the Leicester LGB&T Centre decided to nominate Ciera for this award. She is truly deserving and to not only win the Young Braveheart of the Year but to go on to win overall Young Person of the Year also was fantastic to see.

“It was a very emotional evening and I have to admit I did shed a few happy tears — I only wish all of the young people involved in this wonderful project could also have won. I’m truly honoured to lead this project and to see the happiness this brought to Ciera and her family was truly heartwarming.”