London Trans+ Pride 2023 protest route confirmed amid ongoing attacks on global trans community
London Trans+ Pride 2023 is set to take place on Saturday 8 July. (Getty)
London Trans+ Pride is set to return in 2023 to call for trans freedom and equality in the UK and globally.
Organisers have confirmed that the protest march will take place on Saturday, 8 July from 1pm BST.
Protesters are being asked to congregate at Trafalgar Square in central London before embarking on a new demonstration route that can “accommodate growing numbers” of London Trans+ Pride attendees.
The grassroots protest, which first took place in 2019, aims to “celebrate the memory of trans lives taken and uphold the next generation of trans revolutionaries”.
In an Instagram post announcing the event’s return, organisers urged attendees to “bring signs”, “wear flowers”, and confirmed that they would “share the full route in the weeks leading up to the march.”
A Kickstarter fund to support this year’s event has raised more than £10,000. Organisers claim that with the number of attendees is “doubling each year”, more funds are needed to cover the growing cost of staging the event, which includes sound equipment and transportation, stewards, a hydration station and accessibility.
What is the London Trans+ Pride 2023 march route?
London Trans+ Pride organisers confirmed the demonstration route for 2023 on Sunday (2 July).
This year’s march will begin at Trafalgar Square at 1pm BST, before making its way up Cockspur Street onto Pall Mall.
It will then make a right at Waterloo Place and head up to Piccadilly Circus before turning left and passing Green Park, before coming to a stop just after Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner.
Organisers say the total distance or the march is around 2.09km (1.35 miles) and will take between 60 and 90 minutes to complete.
A map released by London Trans+ Pride on Instagram also shows the location of nearby toilet facilities as well as designated stop-off points at Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, Waterston’s Piccadilly and the Statue of Diana at Green Park.
The march comes against a backdrop of growing anti-trans hostility
London Trans+ Pride 2023 is likely to be the most passionate expression of trans solidarity yet, coming in a year that has seen the death of 16-year-old trans school girl Brianna Ghey in Warrington, the UK’s government’s decision to block Scotland’s gender recognition reform bill, and far-right protests against drag queen performances take place in London.
Brianna was stabbed to death in a park in Warrington on 11 February. Two teens, both aged 15, have been charged with murder and are due to stand trial in July.
London Trans+ Pride previously described as “a brutal and horrific attack that has left the community reeling” in a statement on Facebook just days after her death.
Trans advocacy groups have also condemned the Tory government’s blocking of Scotland’s planned reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) following the passing of a vital bill designed to make the process of obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate easier.
London Trans+ Pride held two protests outside 10 Downing Street on 18 and 19 January in response to the move.
The group wrote on Facebook that the “emergency protest” was to “show solidarity for Scotland’s independence and autonomy as it leads the UK’s fight for gender reform, as well as to champion the continuing battle against transphobia in the rest of the nation.”
It’s not just the UK that has seen a difficult 2023 for trans and non-binary people. Anti-trans bills continued to be introduced to legislatures across the US, and according to research collected by The Disinformation Project anti-trans campaigner Posie Parker’s recent visit to Australia and New Zealand has allegedly caused transphobic harassment to skyrocket to “genocidal” levels.
Last year, Texas governor Greg Abbott ordered officials to investigate gender-affirming care as “child abuse”. A court has temporarily halted the investigations, though the legal battle is far from over.
PinkNews has contacted London Trans+ Pride for comment.
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