4 minute read
VIRTUAL TRANS PRIDE #WontBeErased Watch live on transpridebrighton.org on Saturday, July 18 from 1 –7pm.
Virtual Trans Pride will be taking place on Saturday, July 18 from 1–7pm.
The event will replicate the main stage which is the key attraction at the annual Trans Pride park event. Performers will be streaming live music, poetry, and more from their own home; bedroom, kitchen or garden. To watch live on the day visit www.transpridebrighton.org to see the action unfold. There will also be a live stream via Facebook. Friends at Amnesty UK have kindly supported Trans Pride with the technical side of things by providing software to facilitate all the video feeds. This means that for the performer no special equipment is needed and for the audience everything can be watched from a web browser with no need to download any additional software.
Advertisement
In the evening, DJs will take over and play tunes into the small hours for people to party at home. Community groups will have the opportunity to talk about what they do via short speaking slots between the acts, much like how it usually runs on the day.
Trans Pride is keen to financially support performers so will be advertising a giving page to facilitate this. Trans Pride had to cancel its usual summer protest march, park event and after parties due to the developing situation with Covid-19. Events of this size take months of planning and preparation so even despite gradual easing of lockdown, the park event would not have been able to happen. However the enthusiasm to translate the event onto a virtual platform set volunteers into action.
Sarah Savage
PIC BY SHARON KILGANNON
The theme for Trans Pride 2020 is #WontBeErased. The context of this theme arises from an upsurge in anti-trans sentiments coming from a influential minority who seek to roll back trans rights, including access to healthcare and complete removal of trans healthcare for trans children. Trans Pride wants to make the point that trans people won’t be erased, nor will other minorities who are also under attack, including, QTIPOC, migrants, sex workers, to name a few. Sarah Savage, Trans Pride trustee, said: “The cisgender world is trying to erase our rights. Liz Truss’s ignorant comments [about the health needs of trans youth] sparked this off. There has been a concerted attempt to roll back rights and erase progress we’ve made over the last ten years. We must take a stand and not allow this to pass
Social acceptance of trans people has been the biggest change in the past decade. Sarah starred in the Channel 4 documentary My Transsexual Summer, which she says was groundbreaking to show trans people as normal people; “That’s progress, to be seen by wider society as regular humans. Our presence in popular culture has exploded awareness of our existence and that makes the transphobes more angry. A dying animal is more dangerous when it’s close to death. They’re lashing out because they know they are losing. It’s the final throes of mainstream transphobia. “The future is in our hands; we have the opportunity to change. We know what to do and how to do it.” Public reaction to transphobia is for people to speak out. Allies are increasingly becoming vocal in support of trans rights. In 2018 such were the concerns about TERFs coming to protest Trans Pride after the London Pride debacle whereby anti-trans activists hijacked the Pride parade, 200 cisgender volunteers came to steward the Brighton Trans Pride march to keep trans people safe. Every times there is a high-profile transphobic incident, the support is massive from cisgender people.
PROTEST
At its core, Trans Pride is a protest. The annual march will not go ahead this month but there has been a lot of discussion by the committee as to whether this can still happen this year; especially in the context of the recent Black Lives Matter protests and the pandemic, as to whether it’s safe to do such things. Some people want to protest because they feel they are at less risk from the virus and feel some form of visible protest is still needed. It is important to be able to have that space. The community has innovative ways of people making their point, and if as many safeguards are in place as possible, people want their voices heard. Either online or offline and people who are shielding can stay at home and feel they are part of it. The pandemic has affected the trans community as much as everyone else, but with additional concerns such as access to medication, including hormones, Sarah has seen the community pulling together. She said the queer community has been rallying around its own with effective mutual aid networks. Queer people in trouble have been helped out by other queer people. For more info, visit: www.transpridebrighton.org
