Interim Governance Structure of Trans Liberation Group

This document formalises the interim governance structure of the Trans Liberation Group (TLG). The reason for an interim structure is due to the time constraints the group is working under dictated by the founding conference of Your Party taking place in November 2025. After the founding conference, a new constitution and governance structure will be developed for TLG by all of its members. Once this is adopted, the interim governance structure will be dissolved.

1. All-Member Meetings

• 1.1. All members of TLG can attend all-member meetings (AMMs).
• 1.2. Meetings should be held on a regular cadence e.g. once a week. There must be a minimum cadence of once every two weeks.
• 1.3. The date and time of an AMM must be made known to the membership no later than 4 days before the date and time in question. This requirement is waived in the case of emergency meetings (see Section 2.13.).
• 1.4. The agenda for AMMs should be provided in good time for members to read through and propose amendments. The agenda should be made available at least 24 hours before the meeting begins.
• 1.5. AMMs are the sovereign decision making body of TLG.
• 1.5.1. Decisions made and motions passed by members at the AMM become the policy of TLG.
• 1.5.2. These policies cannot be overturned unless decided upon by members voting at future AMM.
• 1.6. The method of making decisions by the AMM will be by simple majority vote.
• 1.7. Members can submit agenda items to the interim Steering Committee (see Section 2.) for the upcoming AMM.
• 1.7.1. The interim Steering Committee should endeavour to make sure the most popular and pertinent items are on the agenda for the AMM.
• 1.7.2. At the start of each AMM, members may call for agenda items to be added in which case the chair will put the decision to add them to a vote as described in Section 1.6.
• 1.8. Detailed minutes must be taken for every AMM and made easily available for members to access. The minutes must be available within 48 hours of the meeting.
• 1.9. Any public statements voted on at an AMM can be authored by Trans Liberation Group.

2. The Interim Steering Committee

• 2.1. The interim steering committee (SC) shall be composed of five members of TLG, elected by TLG members at an AMM.
• 2.2. Any member of the interim SC can be recalled at any AMM by the process explained in Section 1.6.
• 2.2.1. To trigger a recall vote, members can request the chair of the upcoming AMM to add it to the agenda. This proposal must have another TLG member second it. The chair must add the recall vote to the agenda if asked, unless a recall vote for the same member of the SC failed at any of the last two AMMs.
• 2.2.2. In order for a recall vote to be valid, there must be at least 3 of the 5 members of the interim SC present or 50% + 1 of all TLG members (e.g. for a total membership of 51, 26 members must be present at the AMM).
• 2.2.3. If an interim SC member misses more than 3 AMMs or interim SC meetings in a row without adequate apologies, then a recall vote will occur at the next AMM.
• 2.2.4. If a member of the interim SC wins the recall vote, then a new recall vote of that interim SC member cannot take place until at least two AMMs after.
• 2.2.5. Any interim SC member that loses a recall vote is entitled, if they so choose, to stand again in the election that follows to fill the seat they lost on the interim SC.
• 2.3. If one or more positions on the interim SC would be left unfilled (e.g. because members are recalled or resign), then an election must take place as soon as possible to elect a new member or members according to the rules set out in Section 3.
• 2.4. The interim SC is responsible for the following:
• 2.4.1. Chairing AMMs, taking minutes and setting the agenda of the AMM.
• 2.4.2. Creating working groups, appointing members to them and dissolving them.
• 2.4.3. General membership administration duties such as ensuring members are following the membership expectations.
• 2.4.4. Overseeing the creation and adoption of a new constitution and governance structure after the founding of YP.
• 2.4.5. Responsibilities of the SC can be delegated to specific working groups if agreed to by the SC.
• 2.5. The interim SC will act as the public face of TLG and as such each interim SC member must be willing to be spokespeople for TLG and have their name associated with it in the public domain.
• 2.6. The interim SC will have control of all TLG data and credentials. This includes, but is not limited to:
• 2.6.1. Control of the WhatsApp Community.
• 2.6.2. Access to social media accounts.
• 2.6.3. Access to shared cloud drives.
• 2.6.4. The email account for TLG.
• 2.6.5. Membership contact details.
• 2.7. The interim SC are required to hold regular meetings where they can make executive decisions by vote.
• 2.8. The interim SC cannot overrule any policies or decisions voted on by members at an AMM.
• 2.9. Any meetings of the interim SC must have minutes taken and made available for members to read. The minutes must be available within 48 hours of the meeting.
• 2.10. The interim SC should meet regularly (at least once every two weeks).
• 2.11. Any decisions taken by the interim SC between meetings must be put on the agenda of the next meeting if requested by members as a way to keep the interim SC accountable. Members can overturn the decisions taken by the interim SC if they so choose at an AMM.
• 2.12. The interim SC should report to members at the AMM on the activities of the interim SC since the last AMM and on any interim SC meetings that have occurred.
• 2.13. The interim SC can call an emergency AMM. A minimum of 6 hours notice must be given to members for an emergency AMM along with the agenda for the emergency AMM.
• 2.14. Any public statements issued by the SC must be authored as from the Interim Steering Committee of Trans Liberation Group, not from Trans Liberation Group.

3. Elections

• 3.1. Only members of TLG who identify as trans, non-binary, intersex or questioning can be elected to the interim SC.
• 3.2. Members can self-nominate to run as candidates for the interim SC. They must submit their nomination to the returning officers (see Section 3.7) along with a small summary of their candidacy to be displayed alongside their name on the ballot.
• 3.3. Voting will be done by Single Transferable Vote (STV) using the Droop quota aka Scottish STV.
• 3.4. In the event that there are 5 or less members nominated for the interim SC then the election will instead become a ratifying vote for those who are nominated. If the vote fails then nominations will be reopened and the election process will start again.
• 3.5. If less than 5 members are elected to the interim SC, then elections to the remaining seats on the interim SC will become a standing agenda item for all future AMMs until all the seats are filled.
• 3.6. Once the election timetable is announced (see Section 3.9), any new members of TLG will not be eligible to vote or nominate themselves to run for the interim SC. They will however be eligible to run and vote in any elections that may occur in the future.
• 3.7. Two returning officers will be chosen by members at an AMM to hold the election. They cannot run in the election.
• 3.8. The returning officers duties include the following:
• 3.8.1. Announcing the timetable for the election (see Section 3.9).
• 3.8.2. Setting up voting infrastructure.
• 3.8.3. Taking nominations from members (see Section 3.2).
• 3.8.4. Creating the agenda for the election hustings, chairing them and taking minutes (see Section 3.10).
• 3.8.5. Registering members to vote (see Section 3.11).
• 3.8.6. Announcing the result of the election.
• 3.9. The returning officers should first announce the election timetable. It should be structured as follows:
• 3.9.1. Dates and times for nominations to be open and closed. The candidates should be announced as soon as the nomination window is closed.
• 3.9.2. Submission window for hustings topics from members. When the submission window closes, the agenda for the hustings should be drafted and announced as soon as possible.
• 3.9.3. Date and time for the hustings.
• 3.9.4. Dates and times for when voting is open and closed.
• 3.10. Members should be consulted by the returning officers on which topics they want debated by the candidates at the hustings and this should be included in the agenda for the hustings created by the returning officers. During the hustings, members should also be allowed by the chair to ask questions to the candidates.
• 3.11. Elections shall occur at an AMM hustings. Members must be present at the hustings in order to be eligible to vote. Those present at the hustings will be registered to vote by the returning officers.
• 3.11.1. Any member who cannot attend the hustings for good reason, sends apologies to the returning officers and asks to be registered to vote shall be registered by the returning officers.
• 3.11.2. To ensure that any members either arriving late or leaving early to the hustings are registered to vote, the returning officer chairing the hustings will ask attendees to register to vote at regular intervals during the hustings.
• 3.12. The returning officers should also be given the administration rights and access they need to conduct the election. This includes the ability to post announcements in the WhatsApp group, admin access to the shared cloud drive, access to the online credentials for the voting tool used and other similar platforms.

4. Dissolution of the Interim Governance Structure

• 4.1. After the Your Party founding conference, the interim SC will oversee the drafting of a new constitution, along with any associated documents, for TLG.
• 4.2. A constitutional working group (or working groups) will be set up by the interim SC for any TLG member to join and take part in drafting the constitution and any other associated documents (e.g. a Code of Conduct, Standing Orders etc).
• 4.3. The wider membership will be able to discuss, debate and amend the constitution and associated documents produced by the constitutional working group before ratification (see Section 1.6).
• 4.4. Upon the ratification of the new constitution and associated documents, the interim governance structure, along with the interim SC, will be dissolved and new elections will take place as specified by the new constitution and associated documents.