Liverpool's first Trans Pride

Liverpool’s first official Trans Pride wasn’t until very recently in 2019. It was held on International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) where educational talks and celebratory events took place, along with a march through the city.

In the year that led up to this, the trans community were (and still are) facing a lot of hateful and one-sided media attention as well as continuous unprovoked attacks. Trans Pride is much like general LGBTQIA+ Pride, however it is a day for us to celebrate the diversity and resilience of the trans community and to spread awareness of the injustices they still face across the globe.

This may have been the first Trans Pride in Liverpool, but the city has previously shown its support for the trans community in other ways, such as flying the trans flag from public buildings every year for TDOV.

The local community also rallied together in support of our trans community in 2018 when anti-trans media cropped up around the city in the form of stickers spreading transphobic messages. Liverpool City Council approved a motion in support of trans people, which stated that “TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN” and that “there is no place in our city for hatred or bigotry”.

The transphobic stickers were removed and the Town Hall and other public buildings were lit up in blue, white and pink to show support for the trans community.

A group of our young people also came up with their own sticker campaign as a reaction to the transphobic vandalism, with the aim to stick them over the originals (police advice was to not remove the stickers in case something dangerous was hidden behind it) and to spread awareness for the trans community.