Pride

Over 100,000 protest UK transphobia as London Trans Pride returns

A crowd at London Trans Pride.

London Trans Pride 2025. (PinkNews)

London Trans Pride 2025. (PinkNews)

Hundreds of thousands of UK residents marched across London as part of London Trans Pride 2025 today (26 July).

Members of the public from across the country shrugged off the cloudy weather to spread messages of trans liberation across the nation’s capital.

Marching from Langham Place to Parliament Square, activists held an array of signs, both spreading trans positivity and condemning institutions, including the Labour government, that have rolled back many of the community’s rights since taking office.

Others chanted slogans of LGBTQ+ liberation and opposition to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s continued attacks on the trans community.

Marchers also overwhelmingly expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza amid continued Israeli bombings in the region, with multiple Palestinian flags visible within the miles-long crowd.

Last year, the grassroots Pride march saw a whopping 55,000 people march for trans rights, with figureheads of the community, including Heartstopper actress Yasmin Finney and trans reality TV star and influencer Ella Morgan, making an appearance.

Yasmin Finney and Ella Morgan both made a return for London Trans Pride 2025, as well as activist Caroline Litman, Brighton Trans Pride co-founder Fox Fisher, and Trans Solidarity Alliance founder Jude Guaitamacchi.

Protestors at London Trans Pride.
Protesters held a variety of signs, including pro-Palestine flags. (PinkNews)

Speaking to PinkNews, Guaitamacchi said that the energy of the march was positive, but that they could feel the “weight of everything that’s going on at the moment.”

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“There’s never been more of a need for London Trans Pride because Pride has always been a protest and, right now, we are protesting for our human rights that have been stripped away.”

Much of the focus was on the recent UK Supreme Court ruling, which determined that the 2010 Equality Act’s definition of sex referred to ‘biological sex’ only.

Several activists condemned the April ruling, as well as the subsequent Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) interim guidance, which recommended trans people be banned from spaces related to their gender and, even, in some cases, spaces related to their birth sex.

Guaitamacchi said that stopping the guidance before it become statutory is imperative, telling PinkNews prior to the march: “Parliament has the power to stop this from happening and so we need to encourage politicians, our MPs, to do that.”

London Trans Pride ‘definitely sends a message’

Mx Adam Khan, an operations co-ordinator for London Trans Pride, told PinkNews that, while Pride isn’t the only way for the community to have its voices heard, grassroots protests are incredibly effective.

“We need a multi-pronged approach to get the systemic change that we want to see, but I would say having tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands of people, shutting down the streets of Westminster definitely sends the message to anyone in power.

“That’s not just politicians, but those that are funding the institutions or who have pseudo-fascist and gender-critical views that have influence.”

Protestors at London Trans Pride.
London Trans Pride 2025. (PinkNews)

Established in 2019, London Trans Pride was created in response to the rising transphobia in institutions and society across the UK.

Noahfinnce, influencer, musician, and longtime supporter of London Trans Pride, said that the nature of what Pride is or should be has changed considerably since they attended their first protest in 2017.

“This is a time where it feels that every trans person feels like their rights and their lives are at threat. That’s definitely made it a different environment, but as s**t as it is it’s kind of brought us closer together and it’s given us more of a clear perspective.”

The change is no plainer than in the activism from Trans Kids Deserve Better, a grassroots group of under-18s who, through direct action, aim to highlight the systemic injustice that trans youth face.

Their protests have included occupying the Department of Education and spray painting trans slogans on the NHS England headquarters in London.

One member of the group, who chose not to be named, told PinkNews that the collective aimed to spread “serious messages” of injustice through admittedly “whimsical” actions.

Asked if direct action is a vital form of protest, the spokesperson said: “Yes, very much so, especially in the face of increasing government opposition. I mean, we’ve seen it recently with the RHSE guidance.”

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