On Saturday 4th July hundreds gathered at St George’s Hall to protest the government’s u-turn on promises to reform the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), calling for people to “Stand with us today, reform the GRA.”
The event, organised by Liverpool Trans Pride, called for people to come together in solidarity with trans people across the UK to “demonstrate against this callous government which has ignored democracy, to further demonise transgender people.”
In the 2018 consultation on reform of the GRA the response was overwhelmingly in favour of change. More than 100,000 people are reported to have responded to the consultation, with 70 per cent of those backing the idea that everyone should be able to self-identify.
However, UK government officials allegedly believe the results were “skewed” by an “avalanche” of responses generated by trans rights groups.
Speakers at Saturday’s event, which was hosted by transgender activist Felix Mufti-Wright, included the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Cllr Anna Rothery, Zee Davine, Siàn Peters of Spirit Level Liverpool, Claire Henderson from Reclaim the Night and Paul McGowan from Labour LGBT+ Network.
Further action to hold the government to account will be taken this week, with Comics Youth holding a meeting on 9th July to discuss local young people’s thoughts and feelings around the GRA, ahead of a meeting with other local trans support organisations and regional MPs, hosted by LCR Pride Foundation on the 14th July.
If you would like to add your voice, please write to your local MP using our template letter which can be found here.
If you weren’t able to join the protest you can read our article about other ways to support here.
