Pride in
London and the trans community have had a difficult relationship, particularly
since 2008’s ‘toiletgate’, but old wounds are healing
The Guardian, Jessica Elgot, Saturday 27 June 2015
 |
| Some trans groups turned their backs on the delegation from charity Stonewall at Pride London last year. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images |
At Pride in
London, gay Muslims, Catholics and Jews march together, following chorus bands
and classical orchestras, along with boxers and rollergirls, bankers and
politicians. But there is one group that has historically felt unwelcome.
Pride has
had an uneasy relationship with the trans community. In 2008, trans
participants were denied access to toilets by security staff. Some trans groups
that marched last year turned their backs at the Stonewall delegation in
protest at the group’s then refusal to advocate for trans rights.
This year,
animosity is healing and trans groups say for the first time they are starting
to feel welcome at Pride.
Trans
rights are on the media agenda: reality TV’s Caitlyn Jenner was on the cover of
Vanity Fair, Orange Is The New Black’s Laverne Cox has become a global
superstar, and in the UK, boxing promoter Kellie Maloney is challenging
perceptions about transition. This year’s Pride Power List, which coincides
with the march, has a transgender category for the first time.
Most
significantly for many, Stonewall’s new chief executive, Ruth Hunt, announced in February that the charity would start working for trans equality,
apologising for its past failure to do so.
London-based
group TransPals will be marching as an official participant for the first time
this year with its sister organisation FTM London. “Pride has changed, this
year does feel different,” said the group’s chair Patricia, who said she
prefers to be referred to by her first name only.
“I never
wanted to go to Pride before last year, which was the first time we marched,
and even then we didn’t have a group. We turned our backs on the Stonewall
group as they passed, but this time we won’t have any of that.”
This year
the atmosphere around trans rights has changed “a heck of a lot”, she said,
particularly within the LGBT community. “It feels now we are on the same level,
we are working together because we all need the same thing, to live normal
lives, to be happy, that’s our common goal.”
Radio
presenter Stephanie Hirst, one of the trans people honoured on the 2015 Pride
Power list, said she would miss the parade but felt particularly “gutted” because
it appears to be a momentous year for trans inclusion. She said: “There’s a
real buzz that hasn’t been there in previous years. Trans isn’t a sexuality, I
think that’s been a barrier in the past. But Pride is also about being
yourself, celebrating who you are.”
Stonewall
said it was determined that this year it was not just making efforts to be
inclusive at Pride London, but would also make sure it was represented at other
upcoming trans-focused events.
Ayaz Manji,
the charity’s policy officer, said: “It’s great to see Pride events around the
UK making a conscious effort to be more trans inclusive. However, the trans
community lives through a number of struggles that lesbian, gay and bisexual
people don’t face.
“For this
reason, it’s important for us to have trans specific Pride events like
[Manchester march] Sparkle and Trans Pride in Brighton.” Stonewall plans to
have a presence at both this year as part of its trans-inclusion efforts, he
said.
But there
is still a lot of healing of the relationship between the gay community and
trans people, said Jane Fae, a writer and campaigner on transgender equality.
“We are moving at two different speeds, Pride feels like a celebration of
rights than have been already won,” she said, describing the trans community as
the “poor relation watching our gay cousins go to the ball”.
“We have
only been fighting the battle in public for a decade or so, where as the gay
struggle has been for half a century. The gay community is now very
respectable, there’s the pink pound, and all the big corporations want to be
associated with Pride.
“The
reality is that we in the trans community have not won our battles yet, there’s
a lot of fighting still to do on issues that do not affect the LGB part of the
acronym – like medical ones, like unemployment.”
Fae, who
has been to several Pride marches in the past, said anger about incidents such
as “toiletgate” in 2008 was still raw, and the relationship with Stonewall
would take time to rebuild. She said: “I am not entirely positive. I think
things will get better, or we may eventually take the decision that we can’t
trust the relationship we have with the gay community, and we have to fight our
battles alone.”
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