‘It felt really liberating,’ says Londoner Steph Kyriacou, of the first time he went to Trans Pride Brighton and Hove in 2018. ‘And it continues to feel more liberating every year, because it’s almost like trans rights are going backwards at the moment in our country.’
This July, Kyriacou will be among up to 20,000 people expected at Trans Pride Brighton, the UK’s first such event of its kind (and, founders believe, the first trans pride set up outside North America), as it marks its tenth anniversary. Barring the pandemic, when events moved online, he’s gone back every year since that first trip.
‘Trans Pride Brighton brings a sense of joy and peace to me,’ adds Kyriacou. ‘It’s a moment to focus on our community and what still needs to be done, but also allows me to take a step back almost from real life and just immerse myself in my community and focus on having a good time with like-minded people.’
Since its inception in July 2013 – when around 800 people gathered in New Steine Gardens, home to the city’s AIDS memorial – the event has drastically expanded. In 2016, it relocated to Brunswick Square after outgrowing two previous locations.
‘It felt very punk DIY to just go and make things happen, to create that space and make our own community,’ as explains co-founder Fox Fisher, who put the first event together with friends in just four months.
Sarah Savage, another co-founder, describes that first year as a time of great optimism.
‘It was part of a wave of acceptance and of celebration of trans people,’ she says. ‘And it just felt like the time was right to claim back or to produce a pride that put the ‘T’ first…for a couple of years, there was a lot of positive change happening.’
But since then, she says, ‘the biggest change is how we as a community feel under attack, over the last five years especially’.
Her words carry substance: last year, official government figures revealed that police-recorded transgender hate crimes had increased by 56% in the past 12 months, the largest percentage annual increase for any hate crime that year – and the highest for transgender hate crimes since records began.
‘There was a lot more bite in the insults that were thrown our way and there was a lot more questioning who we are,’ says Savage, who likens the rhetoric to the 1980s, when some papers stigmatised gay men during the AIDs crisis.
‘So we’ve seen a real repeat of what used to happen, and it’s got increasingly hostile towards trans and non-binary people.’
Trans Pride Brighton, then, is a vital means of supporting the community.
‘We can really lift them up – the political situation will change, the oppression on trans people will change, history is on our side,’ adds Savage. ‘So what we’ve got to do now is build up the next generation and give them the resilience that they need to survive the next few years.’
Despite its growth, the ethos of Trans Pride Brighton has remained the same: community-focussed and free. For Savage, 2018 stands out as a highlight, when cisgender allies stewarded the march following an anti-trans protest at Pride in London that year.
‘We put a call out for allies to steward our march…over 200 cis allies heard this call and turned up and, in the end, we ran out of high vis jackets,’ she explains. ‘One of the biggest successes that has made Trans Pride what it is [today] is because of the help that we’ve received from allies along the way.’
This year, she says, ‘everything’s enhanced’, including a dedicated sober space, an accessibility area, and an area for trans and non-binary people of colour.
As in previous years, July’s event will feature a march and stalls run by local community groups, alongside a beach day on Sunday – one of Kyriacou’s favourite things about the event.
‘Everyone gets to just let loose, go swimming,’ he explains. ‘It’s so freeing to see people walking around whether they’ve had top surgery, they’re in a binder, or they’re in a swimming costume, they’re in swim shirts – whatever people want to wear, no one judges and no one cares’
For the first time, there will be a fundraising gala on Friday night, hosted by RuPaul’s alumni Cheddar Gorgeous and Dakota Schiffer, with performers including comedian Bethany Black.
Funding has proved a challenge throughout Trans Pride Brighton’s history, not least of all last year, when card machines malfunctioned – costing organisers an estimated £25,000. (On top of the gala, organisers have also set up a crowdfunding page.)
As a community-led grassroots group, time, energy and resources have always been a challenge. ‘It hasn’t been easy,’ says Fisher. ‘The hardest thing was when I hit burnout a couple of times. With a core group of volunteers it was hard to get things done, while navigating work and family alongside our own transitions, but we were unified in wanting to create a community and celebrate trans lives.’
It’s this community-focused ethos which appeals to Ocean Grove, another event regular. ‘Trans Pride is still so small and it’s very like a protest still, so it just felt really nice,’ says Grove of their first visit to Trans Pride Brighton, six years ago, when they caught a bus down from Newcastle with a friend.
‘It was really rainy, so we were all hiding under trees and that could have ruined the day but it was really nice the whole community coming together. It didn’t feel like I had to fend for myself or hide away.’
What do they like about Trans Pride Brighton? ‘The solidarity – there are so many aspects to the protest. You feel angry at everything that’s going on, but you also feel validated,’ they say.
‘It’s just like a space to feel whatever you need to feel, whether that’s anger at how society still is, or happiness that you’ve got so many people who understand how you feel.’
Looking to the future, Fisher wants Trans Pride Brighton to ‘protect its integrity and never sell out, so they can always put the people’s needs first and foremost’.
Savage, meanwhile, is hopeful for the future. ‘Right now, there are so many more supporters of trans people and trans rights,’ she says.
‘There are so many more people who love us and will give solidarity to us than ever before. We outnumber the people who are trying to take away our rights, so the power of community and the power of allyship is so important and so incredible.’
For Kyriacou, Trans Pride Brighton is a place of meaning, happiness and friendship. ‘We are here mainly to celebrate and prop up the trans community,’ he says. ‘Show off our pride, show people that we are real – we are here, we exist. We’re not a fad. We’re not a phase. We’re not doing things for attention. We’re simply human beings trying to live our lives and trying to find any sort of joy and peace along the way.’
Trans Pride Brighton will take place on Sunday July 16th. You can donate to the group’s fundraiser here
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