Making a movement
The concept of Trans Pride is not inherently an Irish one. Yet, as Ciara Kelly notes, over the past few years Ireland has seen four groups rise up to fight for trans, non-binary and intersex rights in the country.
Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin was founded in 2018, shortly after the repeal of the constitutional ban on abortion and three years after the historic passing of the Gender Recognition Act. An estimated 1,000 people turned up to the first protest, which was themed ‘Bodily Autonomy’, directly linking the win for abortion rights to the need for trans and intersex people to have agency over their bodies too.
That same year, Trans Pride Northern Ireland (NI) had its first protest amidst the Love Equality campaign to legalise same-sex marriage, with around 2,000 people attending. Four years later in 2022, Trans Pride Cork was set up by Louise O’Donnell and Saoirse Mackin. In a 2024 speech, O’Donnell stated: “Trans Pride Cork encompassed the staggering grief I felt at our leaders, our legislators, our fellow citizens. A blinding righteous anger put me atop a soapbox, pleading for change.”
The following year, Beth Clancy began Trans Pride Limerick, inspired by their experiences of attending both Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin and Trans Pride Cork.
One may question what distinguishes Trans Pride from general Pride, and what the need is for that distinction. Speaking to GCN, Beth Clancy responded, “Trans Pride puts Pride back where it is meant to be, as a protest.”
Clancy’s point touches on a sense of disillusionment felt by many LGBTQ+ people in relation to some mainstream Pride events; the view that they have abandoned their revolutionary origins and become focused on assimilation. There is also a distinct class element to this growing disillusionment, as Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin organiser, Callum Kenny, expressed that while these mainstream events can be fun, they can also be “very capitalist” and “very corporate”.
The many Trans Pride groups of Ireland, on the other hand, function on grassroots community organising, intentionally forgoing ‘rainbow capitalism’.
Regarding the ethics of funding Trans Pride Limerick, Clancy explained, “I’d never let a corporation fund Trans Pride, it’s just not in our values... We usually try to source funding from TDs that are socialist or leftist and support us, as well as the government’s LGBTQ fund”.
Similarly, Ollie Bell has previously stated, “Despite never having corporate sponsorships, Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin has continued to grow year after year... There are always alternatives to corporations”. By defying the corporatisation of mainstream Pride, Trans Pride keeps the focus on empowering the disenfranchised.
Furthermore, throughout history, trans and gender nonconforming people have often been alienated in some way from the rest of the community. This goes back to when trans activist Sylvia Rivera was booed on stage by a crowd of queer people at the Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally in 1973. In response, she shouted, “I have been thrown in jail for gay liberation, and you all treat me this way? What the hell is wrong with you?”
Although there has been definite improvement in trans solidarity among the rest of the community, the alienation seen in the 1970s has reformed in modern times into the likes of the ‘LGB without the T’ movement. This shows the necessity for a form of Pride which forefronts the needs of trans people. As Clancy puts it, “It’s important to protest for trans people’s healthcare rights and freedoms when they’re the most attacked minority in the LGBTQIA community.”
Another principle of Trans Prides across Ireland is the active practice of intersectionality. Scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term in 1989, explained it as “a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LGBTQ problem there. Many times, that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.”
Crenshaw’s theory can be seen in how Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin chose ‘No Pride in Genocide’ as their 2024 theme in solidarity with Palestinian people. When asked about the group’s emphasis on intersectionality, Callum Kenny replied, “We’ve had questions in the last few months of people asking, ‘Why are you making it so broad?’ We are one of the most vulnerable communities, but there are also other very vulnerable communities, and I think there’s strength in numbers.” He added, “Trans people of colour in particular are the most vulnerable across the world in the queer community.”
Finally, Beth Clancy shared some of the main values that guide Trans Pride Limerick: protesting for better healthcare, fighting for freedom from oppression and discrimination, bodily autonomy for intersex people and finding a community where you can feel safe and loved. These values extend beyond Limerick, and the growth of these groups in Ireland reflects that Pride can be reclaimed as an anti-capitalist, trans-centred and intersectional protest.