Pride in London Apologizes for Anti-Trans Feminists

Starting at noon yesterday, London’s 2018 Pride Parade began, and hundreds of queer groups marched in what the event’s organizers claimed would be the “most diverse Pride in London Parade yet…”.

However, as Pink News reported this weekend, rather than being lead by London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, and the U.K. National Health Service, the trans-exclusionary group known as ‘GetTheLOut’ was apparently able to head the march in central London for the better part of an hour.

According to PN’s coverage, the group handed out literature promoting their views, which center around the notion that transgender women (pointedly those who love other women) are trespassers in feminine and lesbian spaces; this is paired with sentiments hostile toward sex workers.

This action irked numerous attendees, with London writer Roz Kaveney tweeting “Who in charge at #PrideinLondon allowed Julia Long [anti-trans feminist author] and her friends to march with a transphobic banner near the front of the march?”

One of the banners seen in footage taken at the parade read “‘Lesbian’ Equals Female Homosexual,” suggesting the illegitimacy of trans lesbianism. This messaging, as pointed out by many who contacted PIL requesting a statement on the group’s behavior, is despite the fact that the movement of queer liberation and Pride began with trans women rioting at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village.

The parade organizers finally released a full-length statement according to Pink News, calling the trans-exclusionary feminists at Pride “vile” and apologizing profusely for the group’s demeaning actions.

Previously, London Pride was relatively low-key when it came to dealing with the group, and even used “hot weather” as an excuse for the lack of opposition to the anti-trans movement. They are now taking a new stance due to the global outcry from the LGBTQ community.