TRANS PRIDE BRIGHTON 2023 in banners
A photo essay from the 10th anniversary of Trans Pride
Banners collected in Brighton Dome after the march for donation to:
https://www.museumoftransology.com/
The start of the march, at Jubilee Square, next to the Ledward Centre, for the local LGBTQ+ community [ https://ledcen.org.uk/ ]
Check out that weather! The day before, the forecast said: Lightning, High Winds, 70% chance of rain all day. Bizarre. Anyone would think it was a conspiracy by the Met Office to deter us…
…or maybe a dual-gendered God decided to re-think the weather for this particular day? Just saying.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/church-england-god-gender-neutral-26183981
One of my favourites of the day, in spite of the minimalism. If you don’t know Shon Faye’s work, get thee gone to: https://transreads.org/the-transgender-issue-an-argument-for-justice/
No Shon Faye as far as I could tell, but I did spot Juno Dawson and Suzie Eddie Izzard : )
More from the Transology collection. It bears repeating: the UN says Conversion Therapy is torture. The UNITED NATIONS. Not QAnon. The British government has delayed the ban on torture - sorry, conversion therapy - for trans people, and effectively drew attention to its existence with countless headlines over the past 18 months. QED: they are torturers.
Black Trans Lives Matter also needs a mention: trans people have seen a rise of 33% in hatecrimes in 18 months. Black trans women are among the most frequently murdered people in the developed world.
Mia Mingus (centre) gets a rare but very necessary shout-out. (If you don’t know her, start here: https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/about-2/ ). There is a big intersection of transness & disability and, even if there wasn’t, it’s vital to show solidarity with all marginalized people as what’s good for one group can be good for all.
I doubt I heard the (other) T-word more than a couple of times, partly because of an incitement to violence at the London Pride:
https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/13/sarah-jane-baker-met-police-london-trans-pride/
…but there was a Free SJB banner (not pictured), and the incredible amount of trans joy on display felt like the best revenge…
…as did the number of allies among the THIRTY THOUSAND estimated attendees. One in 11 of the estimated trans population of the UK!
So many of the flags in one place and, of course, Sylvia Rivera & Marsha P Johnson who threw the brick that, in a sense, started all of this off:
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson
I’ll write about Anohni & the Johnsons in an up-coming column when I’ve digested her new album, which has Martha on the cover, and behind so much of the politics. Until then, have a listen, here: https://boomkat.com/products/my-back-was-a-bridge-for-you-to-cross
Whenever you’re thinking about how painful the last couple of years have been with the explosion of transphobia, remember we’ve also seen an explosion of trans culture, trans activism, and trans joy.