LGBTQIA+ Figures Denounce Supreme Court’s Ruling at London Pride
Image: prideinlondon/Instagram
High profile figures have joined together at the London Pride parade to voice concern about trans rights being under attack, condemning the Supreme Court’s Gender ruling earlier this year.
Singer and actor Olly Alexander told PA news agency that trans people needed our support and love more than ever.
“They’re being villainised, demonised in the press, by a lot of the media, and trans people they’re just like us,” they said. “They’re you, they’re me.”
Writer Shon Faye, author of Love in Exile and The Transgender Issue, said before the march began, “For the trans community in particular here in the UK, we’ve seen an onslaught of misinformation, attacks in the media, and unfortunately the roll back of human rights in the courts.”
“I think [Pride] is more important than ever – I think a lot of trans people have been made to feel afraid in public spaces, and Pride this year is about taking back public space, and showing that we’re not going to be silenced, and we’re not going to be intimidated.”
Alexander said trans people deserve the same respect, rights, privileges, and opportunities as the rest of the community.
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“There’s been a real backlash against DEI policies and that’s been going on for years,” they said. “I think we’re in a bit of a swing, that’s going against where we were maybe five years ago.”
Ellis Howard, who portrays journalist Paris Lees in the BBC dramatisation of her memoir What It Feels Like For A Girl, told PA ,“We’re in an incredibly precarious political time”.
Howard supported trans-led grassroots charity, Not a Phase, at the parade.
“The recent Supreme Court ruling concerns me, the lack of proper tangible support from our government concerns me, the lack of funding to amazing organisations like Not A Phase really, really concerns me,” he said.
“But honestly, I look around, I see stuff like this, I see what grassroots activism can do, and the power that that can have.”
Mayor of London “honoured” to help lead Pride
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, helped lead the festivities with the city’s LGBTQIA+ community, and said it was an honour and a privilege to walk at the front of the Parade again.
“The fantastic parade and celebrations across central London have shown once again that our capital is a beacon of inclusivity and diversity,” he said.
“This year’s event was also a defiant reminder that we must keep fighting for equality and take a stand against those seeking to roll back hard-won rights.”
London Pride comes at a turbulent time, with already threatened trans rights under the knife.
In April, the UK Supreme Court unanimously decided that trans women were not legally considered women, arguing that the 2010 Equality Act refers exclusively to biological sex assigned at birth.
Organisers of Pride events in Birmingham, Brighton, London, and Manchester said they would be “suspending political party participation” from Pride events this year until the needs of trans people were addressed.
“At a time when trans rights in the UK are under growing attack, our resolve has never been stronger: we will not allow progress to be undone,” they said in a joint media statement.
“We will not stand by at the dignity, safety, and humanity of our trans siblings are debated, delayed, or denied.”
Chief Executive of Stonewall, Simon Blake, said the UK had dropped sharply down the global leaderboard for LGBTQIA+ rights.
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