LGBT artists including singer and actor Olly Alexander decried the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman and expressed fears trans people are being “villainised more than ever” at a rainy Pride in London parade.
Writer Shon Faye and the lead actor in the BBC drama What It Feels Like For A Girl, Ellis Howard, also criticised the judgment.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan shouted “happy pride” and thousands people started to walk through central London, led by a more than a dozen motorcyclists from LGBT groups.
There were shouts for “trans rights now” as the engines roared and rain started to fall on Saturday afternoon.
American pop singer Chaka Khan is headlining the event that saw around 500 organisations file from Hyde Park Corner, through Piccadilly Circus, and on to Whitehall Place.
Former Years And Years singer Alexander told the PA news agency: “Trans people right now, they need 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’re you, they’re me.
“They deserve the same respect, the same rights, the same privileges, same opportunities, and that’s why pride is so important this year.”
The solo artist and Eurovision 2024 contestant added: “There’s been a real backlash against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and that’s been going on for years, and I think we’re in a bit of a swing, that’s going against where we were maybe five years ago.
“We’ve had the Supreme Court ruling and I feel like a lot of trans people are scared, rightfully scared, they don’t understand… what their lives are going to look like.”
In April the Supreme Court ruled the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
Before the march began Shon Faye, author of Love in Exile and The Transgender Issue, said “we’ve just seen an unprecedented attack on queer rights and trans rights across the world”.
She told PA: “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 space and pride this year is about taking back public space, and showing what we’re not going to be silenced, and we’re not going to be intimidated.”
Asked what she hoped would change, Faye said: “I feel like it’s not a one year change deal… movements move in generations, I think what we have to do now is accept the reality of the situation we’re in and we have to work together with other groups, within the LGBT community and outside it, to really start forming strong coalitions in order to fight this stuff.
“I think where we’re going in the UK, unfortunately this rightward turn is going to continue for some time. The people together are powerful.”
She added: “I think the reality is what some of these attacks are designed to do is exhaust us… we become very focused and frightened and then sometimes it’s easier to retreat in and the reality is we need to do the opposite of that – we need to be willing to work with people who aren’t necessarily like us”.
Howard played Paris Lees in the BBC dramatisation of her memoir and, like Alexander and Faye, was supporting trans rights charity Not A Phase at the parade.
He told PA that “we’re in an incredibly precarious political time” and said pride this year is “more important than ever”.
The actor added: “I think it’s so, so important that we show up as queers, as allies, and we celebrate. Joy is an act of resistance.
“I hope it shows queers of all ages that we stand with you, we are for you, and we love you”.
He added: “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.
“But honestly, I look around, I see stuff like this, I see what grassroots activism can do, and the power that that can have”.
A YouGov poll released ahead of the event found 67% of people in the UK believe the country is inclusive to LGBTQ+ people, and 60% would not welcome a shift towards more negative attitudes.
Simon Blake, chief executive of Stonewall, which commissioned the survey, said despite the findings “we know many LGBTQ+ people do not feel this in their neighbourhoods and workplaces”.
He added: “In policy terms, the reality is different too.
“The UK has dropped sharply down the global leaderboard for LGBTQ+ rights.”
This year the UK fell to its lowest-ever ranking for LGBTI human rights, an annual report found.
This was because of the Supreme Court ruling and subsequent UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance, said the ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map, which has run since 2009.
