by consensus of the Trans Liberation Assembly

written by Abi Broomfield and John Urquhart

As a political party we welcome the banning of political parties at four of the largest Pride events in the UK this year (in Birmingham, Brighton, London and Manchester). We are led by our queer members on queer matters, and by this assembly on trans matters and we are clear that the hostility towards the trans community in recent years has culminated in the ideological violence of the Supreme Court Ruling last month. Pride is supposed to be a safe place and we want our trans siblings to know they are safe, welcome and more importantly loved. If political parties aren't welcoming to trans people then they have no business in queer spaces at all.

Party general secretary John Urquhart, who is nonbinary, said: "Just as cops have no place in Pride because they do grave harms to the communities sheltering together in the queer community, political parties in the UK have no place in Pride either. Unlike the cops, though, the other parties can make this right. They can kick out the transphobes and stand together with our community, just like so many of their own queer members keep demanding they do."

We don't mind having to sit this out just because we, too, are a political party. What matters most is the safety of our trans siblings. We stand with the trans community forever and always. Trans women are women, trans men are men, and nonbinary folk are valid.