London’s first Transgender Pride has been announced for September 14.
Founded by performers Lucia Blake and Finn Love, London Trans Pride (LTP) was born partly as a response to the “hijacking” of Pride in London 2018 by a group of anti-trans campaigners.
“Last year’s transphobic protests and the all too familiar centering of cis-white gay-male narratives at Pride in London certainly informed our decision,” the collective behind the event told PinkNews.
“We realized collectively that it’s time for us to own our stories, to celebrate them and to take up the space we deserve outside and in broad daylight.”
Last year’s London Pride was marred by protesters carrying a banner which read “transactivists erase lesbians.”
The event’s co-chair Alison Camps condemned the anti-trans group, telling PinkNews: “They don’t represent me, my lesbian colleagues on the board of Pride in London or in our wider team of volunteers.”
Blake and Love are joined by a team of seven other performers and multi-hyphenates, all of whom work in London’s queer nightlife scene.
The committee includes curator Jo Bligh, writers Emily Crooked and Andre Neely, artist Katy Jalili, producer Jen Smethurst, filmmaker Sweatmother and veteran events organizer Tam Vibert.
Together, they hope to provide a “family-friendly daytime space” to cater for people who don’t feel comfortable in nightclubs.
“We are aware that many of the spaces trans and queer people congregate in are centered around clubbing and often involve alcohol,” the collective said.
“There are so many really fantastic and inspiring nightlife spaces and nightclubs that work extremely hard to be trans inclusive, but for the trans community of London to continue to grow stronger we need more diverse spaces which cater to the different needs of different people.”
LTP will take place at a yet-to-be-announced venue in Hackney, east London, and will include “live music, performances, a series of stalls from LGBT+ organizations, panels and talks from inspirational trans people and artwork that explores our history.”
The committee hope to work with the wider community “to ensure that the day caters to the needs and desires of as many people as possible.”
“Part of the reason we decided to announce the event now was to reach other trans folk that we might not know already, that might have formed their own communities and spaces that we’re not aware of,” the collective said
They added that they are “certainly inspired” by Brighton and Dublin’s Trans Pride events—the latter of which drew huge crowds in July 2018.
Though the event will be aimed at transgender people, it is open to people of all gender identities.
“LTP is for people who are trans, non-binary, intersex, gender non-conforming or any other gender identity,” they added.
“It is for people that think they might be trans, but maybe aren’t sure. It is for anyone who need to escape the transphobic hegemony of cis-patriarchy.”