On Saturday 25 July, an estimated 150,000 people flooded central London for Trans+ Pride – what organisers are calling the biggest trans pride march in the world. If you were there, you already know. If you weren’t, here’s what went down.
The march set off from Langham Place, by the BBC’s Broadcasting House, and wound south through Regent Street before spilling into Trafalgar Square – the first year the rally has ended there. Founding member Lewis G Burton called it claiming a spot in the heart of a city that belongs to trans people as much as anyone. It’s a staggering climb, too: the first march in 2019 drew around 1,500 people. This year’s 150,000 (organisers’ estimate) makes it the largest event of its kind anywhere.
A protest, not just a party
Trans+ Pride has always been a protest first. Placards read “these meds save lives,” and much of the day’s anger was aimed at new EHRC guidance on single-sex spaces – the fallout from last year’s Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of “woman” in the Equality Act. Speakers repeatedly called on new Prime Minister Andy Burnham to reject it, noting there’s no legal obligation to act on it.
Alfie Bailey-Bearfield of the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance put the stakes bluntly, telling PA that under the new guidance he as a trans man is welcome in neither the women’s nor the men’s toilets. His group says it’s seeing worrying numbers of trans people self-excluding from work and public life. ITV News / PA
The speeches everyone’s talking about
Trafalgar Square filled fast, overlooked by Teresa Margolles’s sculpture of face casts from 726 trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people. Speaking to PA, author Juno Dawson had a pointed message for the Manchester-rooted PM, arguing he has nothing to lose by acting with kindness because the tabloids were never going to back him anyway. Actress Hannah Jones pushed the conversation to include intersex people, arguing the whole “biological sex” framing is far less black-and-white than politicians pretend.
The most devastating words came from Caroline Litman, whose daughter Alice died by suicide in 2022 after 1,023 days waiting for gender-affirming care. Her warning to Burnham, as reported by ITV News: things have only got worse since, and more young people will die unless anti-trans policies are reversed. It’s a reminder of what sits beneath the record numbers and the joy – real lives, and real loss. ITV News / PA
To everyone who marched: we see you.
Nonchalant x
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Sources: ITV News / PA, Time Out, and London Trans+ Pride. Figures are organisers’ estimates.
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This article was written by one of our creative team writers here at Nonchalant Magazine.
