Trans Day of Remembrance: Zack Polanski and Kate Nash deliver powerful speeches at London vigil
Zack Polanski during the Trans Day of Remembrance vigil in Trafalgar Square. (PinkNews)
Zack Polanski during the Trans Day of Remembrance vigil in Trafalgar Square. (PinkNews)
Zack Polanski, Kate Nash, Victoria McCloud, and Caroline Litman joined millions of activists across the UK and the world holding candlelight vigils to mark Trans Day of Remembrance.
43-year-old Green Party leader Zack Polanski gave a speech during a frigid, sombre Thursday (20 November) evening in London to honour the memory of those in the trans community who died over the past year.
Vigils were also held elsewhere in the UK, US, Canada, France, and several other countries to mark the annual memorial holiday, which first began in 1999 to honour Black trans women Rita Hester and Chanelle Pickett, who died a year prior.
Attending the Trans Legal Clinic’s candlelight vigil in Trafalgar Square, Polanski stood at a lit podium in front of Nelson’s Column, overlooking a sea of tearful faces who were attempting to shield their tiny wax flames from the cold wind.
“[Trans people often] say thank you to me, and while I receive that gratitude, I say the same thing every time—a trans person shouldn’t have to say thank you to a politician for doing the most basic thing; recognising their dignity,” he said.
“Trans people deserve apologies from politicians, from the media, from a society that has completely let them down. From access to healthcare to basic human dignity to their relationship with the police to how they get through every single day.”
At least 281 trans and gender diverse people were murdered this year according to Transgender Euorpe and Central Asia’s (TGEU’s) latest annual update on global violence against trans people.
Polanski said, while the community so often exhibits “joy” in the face of increased hostility, there is also a “great sadness” that needs to be addressed.
“Today, in the day of remembrance, we remember the people whose names no one ever learnt, not a lot of people knew about, but their families knew about them. It’s a moment tonight to reflect.”
Singer and prominent trans ally Kate Nash also spoke at the event, taking to the podium to say: “Trans people make up roughly 0.5% of the UK population and are twice as likely to be victims of crime than cis people.
“According to Home Office figures this country has seen an increase in hate crimes towards trans people, and cis women are supposed to focus on a threat we have yet to see manifest from a small minority of the country who are struggling to stay safe themselves.”
@pinknews Kate Nash has once again shown her support for the trans community. The singer spoke at a trans vigil held by Trans Legal Clinic for Transgender Day of Visibility on November 20. #katenash #transgender #transgenderremembranceday #lgbtqia #transrights ♬ original sound – PinkNews 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Intersectionality is at the heart of trans rights, activists say
At the same time, the cold breeze was also sweeping its way through Soho Square Gardens, where Not A Phase’s candlelight vigil was also taking place.
An array of speakers, from grassroot campaigners to influencers to trans teenagers, shared their personal connection with loss in powerful speeches honouring their own trans friends and family members who passed away.
Among them was Ishmael Kirby, one half of the drag duo and T4T couple Cyro and Richard Energy, who stood with their partner, surrounded by lit candles and dear friends clinging to each other for warmth and comfort, telling the crowd that it would be “insincere” to reflect on the lives tragically lost this year without addressing the state of trans rights in the UK.
“It feels sometimes as though our ancestors legacies have been commercialised and commodified to fit a capitalistic system that functions on white supremacy and colonialism,” Kirby said. “By that, I mean those systems benefit from reducing our trans, intersex, disabled, Black and Brown bodies to a narrative that fits an imperial idea of what is deemed civilised.
“When they rewrite and destroy our history, look to nature to see us represented in every microcosm, fungi, and animal. When our stories are retold, listen to the communities that keep record of knowledge outside of institutions through storytelling, song, ballroom floors, underground queer art. And when you feel deprived of humanity, search and invest time and resources in collectives that are feeding, housing, and fighting for those with the least.”
Punctuated with perfomances from musician Tom Rasmussen, Soho Square’s vigil emphasised the need to acknowledge the intersectionality of trans activism.
TGEU reports that Black and Brown trans women and sex workers tragically remain the most likely to be murdered, with 88 per cent of cases collated between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2025 perpetrated against a trans person of colour.
“The recent EHRC guidelines happening around the same time that DEIs are being rolled back in the US at the same time as a genocide in Palestine, Sudan, and Congo are not coincidences,” Kirby said. “I am in my early thirties and I can see and know there has been a dramatic shift to the far right. As a Black person, I knew it was always there.”
Polanski similarly addressed the need to address how economic and institutional issues disproportinatily affect trans people, with 25 per cent of the community having experienced homelessness at some point in their lives, predominantly due to transphobia.
“The economic insecurity lies at the heart of so many of our issues in Britain,” Polanski said. “Fifty of the wealthiest families own more wealth than the bottom 50 per cent of the population. That’s 35 million people.
“It’s no surprise that this is an economic system that exploits, extracts, and dehumanises. It’s this dehumanisation of trans people that we see day in, day out, and it is so important that we do not accept it, we do not normalise it, but, friends, that we fight back.”
