Transphobic Lesbians Disrupt London Pride Parade

(image via Twitter)

This is just terrible. Not how our community should be acting.

According to Gay Star News, a group of transphobic lesbians commandeered the lead spot for the Pride Parade in London today, and handed out flyers protesting transgender folks.

A group of lesbian activists blocked the start of the Pride in London march today (7 July) in protest against transgender women. A group of eight women stormed the parade route without accreditation. Then five of them laid down on the road in front of the parade and draped a banner over them.

The banner read: ‘Transactivism erases lesbians’. They then blocked the parade route for about 10 minutes. One of the activists shouted out: ‘A man who says he’s a lesbian is a rapist.’

The group also had a banner that said ‘Lesbian = female homosexual’, as well as flyers with the organization ‘Get the L out’ as the headline.

PinkNews reports that at the end of the parade route, a confrontation erupted between the women and other LGBT attendees, angry that Pride had been led by a group seeking to exclude trans people.

One of the people involved in the confrontation told PinkNews, “They hate trans people, they hate sex workers … they are just as bad as bigots saying gay people go to hell. It’s disgusting, this is a problem with what Pride has become."

The organizer of the parade, Pride In London, issued this statement:

"Every year, Pride is attended by hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrate that Pride still matters. Given the hot weather and in the interest of the safety for everyone attending today's event, the parade group was allowed to move ahead.

"We do not condone their approach and message and hope the actions of a very small number people does not overshadow the messages of the 30,000 people marching today."

London Pride this year, first group to pass was TERFs with a “transactivism erases lesbians” banner. Almost got in trouble with police shouting at them to fuck off. Pride is a riot, and I won’t stand quietly while I’m told I’m not welcome at pride as a trans lesbian.

— Laura Kate Dale (@LaurakBuzz) July 7, 2018

So they’re allowing a group of TERFS to start the pride parade in London, and now the group are protesting by lying on the floor stopping the parade from happening. Cba man pic.twitter.com/Ff3jfQ1gko

— Mia (@_miaburt) July 7, 2018

Imagine being trans, coming to LGBT Pride in London, and discovering that there is a group at the front with a banner declaring that trans folks “erase” lesbians. I hope @PrideInLondon will act quickly and decisively - from one feed I saw they appeared to be leading the march!

— Douglas Robertson (@d0ug7a5) July 7, 2018

BREAKING: @PrideInLondon organisers admit they decided to allow anti-trans protesters to lead the parade, “in the interest of safety”. pic.twitter.com/Gt3gHVpZa6

— Nick M Duffy (@NickMDuffy) July 7, 2018

Disgraceful that anti-trans protestors were allowed to lead #prideinlondon today. @prideinlondon need to apologise immediately for allowing this to happen. These people should never be allowed to march at pride again. LGBT Labour stand shoulder to shoulder with our trans members.

— LGBT Labour (@LGBTLabour) July 7, 2018

Someone tell the terf lesbians that have invaded the front of the london pride march to piss off back to the 1970’s.

— Annette Pryce (@LGBTEXEC) July 7, 2018

(h/t JoeMyGod)