{"id":240352,"date":"2025-07-05T15:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T15:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/240352\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T15:00:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T15:00:22","slug":"lgbt-artists-decry-supreme-court-ruling-at-rainy-london-pride-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/240352\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBT artists decry Supreme Court ruling at rainy London Pride parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

LGBT artists including singer and actor Olly Alexander decried the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman and expressed fears trans people are being \u201cvillainised more than ever\u201d at a rainy Pride in London parade.<\/p>\n

Writer Shon Faye and the lead actor in the BBC drama What It Feels Like For A Girl, Ellis Howard, also criticised the judgment.<\/p>\n

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan shouted \u201chappy pride\u201d and thousands people started to walk through central London, led by a more than a dozen motorcyclists from LGBT groups.<\/p>\n

There were shouts for \u201ctrans rights now\u201d as the engines roared and rain started to fall on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

American pop singer Chaka Khan is headlining the event that saw around 500 organisations file from Hyde Park Corner, through Piccadilly Circus, and on to Whitehall Place.<\/p>\n

\"Britain<\/p>\n

Members of the public watch the the Pride in London 2025 parade (Alberto Pezzali\/AP)<\/p>\n

Former Years And Years singer Alexander told the PA news agency: \u201cTrans people right now, they need our support and love more than ever, they\u2019re being villainised, demonised in the press, by a lot of the media, and trans people they\u2019re just like us\u2026 they\u2019re you, they\u2019re me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey deserve the same respect, the same rights, the same privileges, same opportunities, and that\u2019s why pride is so important this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The solo artist and Eurovision 2024 contestant added: \u201cThere\u2019s been a real backlash against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and that\u2019s been going on for years, and I think we\u2019re in a bit of a swing, that\u2019s going against where we were maybe five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had the Supreme Court ruling and I feel like a lot of trans people are scared, rightfully scared, they don\u2019t understand\u2026 what their lives are going to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April the Supreme Court ruled the words \u201cwoman\u201d and \u201csex\u201d in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.<\/p>\n

Before the march began Shon Faye, author of Love in Exile and The Transgender Issue, said \u201cwe\u2019ve just seen an unprecedented attack on queer rights and trans rights across the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

She told PA: \u201cFor the trans community in particular here in the UK, we\u2019ve seen an onslaught of misinformation, attacks in the media, and unfortunately the roll back of human rights in the courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (pride) is more important than ever \u2013 I think a lot of trans people have been made to feel afraid in public space and pride this year is about taking back public space, and showing what we\u2019re not going to be silenced, and we\u2019re not going to be intimidated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Britain<\/p>\n

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, centre right, with his wife Saadiya Khan, centre left, attend the Pride in London 2025 parade (Alberto Pezzali\/AP)<\/p>\n

Asked what she hoped would change, Faye said: \u201cI feel like it\u2019s not a one year change deal\u2026 movements move in generations, I think what we have to do now is accept the reality of the situation we\u2019re in and we have to work together with other groups, within the LGBT community and outside it, to really start forming strong coalitions in order to fight this stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think where we\u2019re going in the UK, unfortunately this rightward turn is going to continue for some time. The people together are powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI think the reality is what some of these attacks are designed to do is exhaust us\u2026 we become very focused and frightened and then sometimes it\u2019s easier to retreat in and the reality is we need to do the opposite of that \u2013 we need to be willing to work with people who aren\u2019t necessarily like us\u201d.<\/p>\n

Howard played Paris Lees in the BBC dramatisation of her memoir and, like Alexander and Faye, was supporting trans rights charity Not A Phase at the parade.<\/p>\n

He told PA that \u201cwe\u2019re in an incredibly precarious political time\u201d and said pride this year is \u201cmore important than ever\u201d.<\/p>\n

The actor added: \u201cI think it\u2019s so, so important that we show up as queers, as allies, and we celebrate. Joy is an act of resistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it shows queers of all ages that we stand with you, we are for you, and we love you\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Britain<\/p>\n

A giant rainbow flag is displayed during the 2025 Pride Parade in London (Alberto Pezzali\/AP)<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe recent Supreme Court ruling concerns me, the lack of proper tangible support from our Government concerns me, the lack of funding to amazing organisations like Not A Phase really, really concerns me.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut honestly, I look around, I see stuff like this, I see what grassroots activism can do, and the power that that can have\u201d.<\/p>\n

A YouGov poll released ahead of the event found 67% of people in the UK believe the country is inclusive to LGBTQ+ people, and 60% would not welcome a shift towards more negative attitudes.<\/p>\n

Simon Blake, chief executive of Stonewall, which commissioned the survey, said despite the findings \u201cwe know many LGBTQ+ people do not feel this in their neighbourhoods and workplaces\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIn policy terms, the reality is different too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK has dropped sharply down the global leaderboard for LGBTQ+ rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year the UK fell to its lowest-ever ranking for LGBTI human rights, an annual report found.<\/p>\n

This was because of the Supreme Court ruling and subsequent UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance, said the ILGA-Europe\u2019s Rainbow Map, which has run since 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LGBT artists including singer and actor Olly Alexander decried the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,93463,393,4884,4582,257,25229,93461,91863,93464,14252,93462,25183,61361,24247,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-240352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-chaka-khan","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-human-rights","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-mayor-of-london","15":"tag-olly-alexander","16":"tag-pride-in-london","17":"tag-saadiya-khan","18":"tag-sadiq-khan","19":"tag-shon-faye","20":"tag-supreme-court-ruling","21":"tag-the-supreme-court","22":"tag-trans-rights","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114801228216560418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}