‘We decide our own fate’: Transgender rights protest takes place in Lancaster city centre

Dalton Square was filled with chants, heckling and shared stories on Sunday 4th May as transgender rights protests took place in Lancaster city centre.

A variety of speakers took to the stage, including students, politicians and artists.

The protest was a reaction towards the recent UK Supreme Court ruling that defines the term “woman” in the Equality Act 2010 as referring to biological women. The ruling means that transgender women are not legally recognised as women, regardless of the ownership of a Gender Recognition Certificate which was introduced in 2005.

The protest was organised by students and had both planned and spontaneous speakers spanning across a vast amount of backgrounds. The speakers touched upon personal accounts of their experiences, calls to action against legislation and also rallied the crowd with passionate chants. Some notable speakers include Green Party University Ward Councillors Tom Fish and Maria Deery, as well as Students’ Union officers that spoke by proxy.

Although many of the speakers were met with applause and cheers, divisions occurred in reaction to the speech of a local Labour politician.

‘The subjugation of trans people is designed to split us apart’

The protest kicked off with a speech from one of the organisers. They urged the crowd to overcome “trans erasure in the modern day” by attending protests and educating friends.

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Furthermore, other organisers shared their stories of transitioning. A common theme was worries about accessing gender-affirming care, coming out to friends and family, and societal pushbacks. Later on in the opening speeches, a speaker spoke to the UK Supreme Court ruling, asking: “Where is the dignity in being turned away from domestic abuse shelters? Where is the dignity in getting strip searched without reason? Where is dignity in being harassed an assaulted in a bathroom?”

They then later stated: “There is no dignity in this, only prejudice and injustice.”

Moreover, the organiser argued that this ruling was the first step in an “attack upon every minoritised individual”. They further implored people to not  stop fighting as there was “no dignity in hatred”. There was additional out-speak against current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had stated his view in reaction to the court decision that a “woman was a biological woman”,  despite his previous disagreement to this statement.

It was asserted that Starmer had “turned his back on us”, that “trans rights are human rights” and a promise to not “let them get taken away”. It was also argued that that this ruling was not genuine to the protection of women, but for “trans-erasure” by “removing trans people from public spaces”.

Local Green politicians take the stand

Following opening statements from the organisers, University Ward city councillors from the Green Party, Maria Deery and Tom Fish took the megaphone.

Cllr Tom Fish stated that the Supreme Courts decision came out from a “cultural transphobia” and a “series of failures to protect trans peoples existence in society”.

He went on to name these instances, arguing that the 2010 Equality Act was not written with explicit support for trans people, and the Supreme Court decision “did not happen in a vacuum”, and alleged that the ruling was “racist in practice because it isolates groups to divide and conquer, continue the culture war and damage the wonderful trans community”.

Furthermore, he stated that Lancaster City Council is awaiting the updated Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidelines to be released, and urged those both cis-gender and transgender individuals to respond to the mandatory consultation period.

Next, fellow politician Cllr Maria Deery stated that the ruling was an “attempt to remove trans people from public space” and a “continuation of the scapegoating of trans people in politics”.

She pledged the Green Party’s support for transgender issues, whilst recognising that some in the party have a “vocal anti-trans viewpoint”. Maria also asserted to the crowd that the  voices “are only the few not the many, no matter how loud their retweets may seem” and assured that she is fighting that viewpoint from within.

Maria ended her speech with the statement that the Green Party is the future of politics, saying: “A progressive party for justice for everyone, whether that is for Palestine, the workers, the trans-women and men, and non-binary people, and the queer communities a whole.”

Division caused by Labour Party appearance

After a few more speakers, former Cllr Erica Lewis took the stage, introducing herself amongst heckles from the crowd. Despite this, the former councillor talked about the domestic violence shelters and pushed back against the idea that the “women who run things like domestic violence shelters are too stupid to know the difference between a woman, and some bloke trying together in to cause trouble.”

Erica pledged her allegiance to both cis-gender and transgender women, stating she was “angry” at the court ruling. This assertion was met with calls to resign from the Labour Party, and heated heckles coming from the crowd, to which Erica shot back that she had being advocating a lot longer than most in crowd.

Once the situation was mediated by an organiser, Erica called for a new Equality Act, stating “that science had changed and we understand it different”, urging those in the crowd to go to their local politicians to advocate for change.

Further pledges towards trans unity and personal stories told

The rest of the event took on spontaneous speakers, with many urging the crowd into chants and cheers. Others wrote pieces on their experience as trans individuals, and urged those who feel “alone, scared and uncared for” to reach out to those in attendance, with one speaker telling their fellow trans individuals “do not die” and that transgender people “are not going anywhere”.

Furthermore, attention was paid to “non-binary erasure” in society and law, and the erasure of the inter-sex community following the ruling. The recognition of these communities was met with loud cheers from the crowd.

More and more individuals took the stage to pledge their unity and support the transgender community. The rally ended on with the organisers passionate pleas to keep fighting against any future legislation and to propose a united front against transphobia.