By Mabel Wellman, director of Trans Pride Southampton.
On the 26th April, Southampton will have a protest to support transgender people.
This protest follows on from the recent Supreme Court ruling that a transgender woman is not a woman, as defined under the Equality Act 2010 regarding sex discrimination. All trans people remain protected by the Equality Act from discrimination due to being trans (because gender reassignment is a protected characteristic), however, we worry that this ruling still has many interpretations which could jeopardise how trans people can engage in public life with dignity.
This includes the fact that businesses could use this ruling to try to force trans people to use the bathroom of the sex that they were assigned at birth (leading to humiliation, or even endangering trans women especially if forced to use men’s restrooms), there also have been many articles released about the British Transport Police, who may exclusively have male officers strip search trans women – or more likely what will happen, strip search any woman who is perceived as being trans or masculine. This latter issue is not just also humiliating, but would also be extremely distressing and cruel for any woman (again, it will NOT just be trans women) affected by this.
On the 26th April, our protest is in support of all trans women, trans men, non binary people, and cisgender people which will be affected by this ruling and its resulting fallout. We protest to assert that trans women are women, trans men are men, and that non-binary people deserve to be legally recognised finally too.
Our protest will start with a protest march. Starting from Town Quay Park (10:45am), to march up the High Street and Above Bar Street, before turning into Watts Park for speeches from the trans community, and any trade unions and organisations that pledge to protect trans people to continue to use the services and facilities of their correct (or “affirmed”) gender.
Please find and follow Trans Pride Southampton on Meta and Bluesky for more updates, as details are subject to change.
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