Water Cooler Chatter: Trans Pride March

At the end of July, Dublin will play host to the Republic’s first Trans Pride march. Inspired by similar events which took place in Scotland and the North, it’s been organised by a group of young trans activists who felt that recent Pride celebrations didn’t do enough to highlight the concerns of trans people in the community.

Starting at Liberty Hall, Trans Pride will make its way through the city with an aim to raise awareness for issues such as better trans healthcare, a change in the legislation regarding intersex genital mutilation (IGM) on intersex babies, more focus on tackling hate crimes, and gay conversion therapy.

For those who think these issues were already under the Dublin Pride umbrella, recent disturbing events show there are dangerous views out there, which the community as a whole need to be aware of.

Last week’s London Pride march was hijacked by a group of lesbian TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) who were inexplicably allowed by confused organisers to lead the parade along a huge portion of the route. This group handed out flyers to onlookers with the title - ‘Get The L Out’, a nonsensical rant about the belief that the trans rights movement causes lesbian erasure and endangers cis women. Nothing more than very poorly, in fact, invisibly disguised bigotry, the group also encouraged lesbian women to leave the LGBT+ community and start their own movement away from those who would support trans folk.

Imagine you were a young trans person and this was your first Pride? Imagine believing you were in a rare safe space only to see a parade led by people who wanted your erasure from a community you thought you were part of?

It gets worse.

The University of Limerick recently conducted the Hate and Hostility Research Group, which revealed that ‘inclusive’ Ireland has one of the highest rates of hate crime against trans people in the EU and there are no laws to specifically address it. The report stated this absence of proper legislation has led to a “policy vacuum” in relation to crimes motivated by prejudice.

This upcoming Trans Pride may be more of a protest march than a parade, but that’s because it needs to be. The roots of Pride were in protest and solidarity. We all stand together, or else there’s no point.

Those boots were made for marching, people. Let’s all get out there on July 28 and support the trans members of our gorgeously diverse family.

Oh, and why not party on later into the evening at Techno for Trans, at The Jug on Francis Street from 7pm til late? Featuring DJs Sarah Lennox, Kaz, Kiva Oates, and Justyna Koss entry is free, but organisers welcome donations from both attendees on the night and from others who would like to contribute online (even.ie), with all proceeds raised going towards ShoutOut and Pieta House.