Over four hundred people turned out in Hull to demand trans liberation at a protest and march on Saturday 10 May.
Protesters gathered in Queen Victoria Square, before marching around the city centre waving “Trans rights are human rights” placards.
The demonstration was called by a collective of trans and queer individuals in Hull, in response to April’s Supreme Court ruling that “woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.
The Equalities and Human Rights Council (EHRC) followed the Supreme Court’s ruling with interim guidance, published on 25 April, suggesting that trans women be barred from using women’s toilets and that trans people may be excluded from certain associations.
The British Transport Police has since announced that male officers will strip-search trans women, while the NHS has been warned by the chair of the EHRC that it must change guidelines for single-sex wards and toilets.
The British Medical Association (BMA) released a statement calling the ruling “scientifically illiterate”, asking how staff are to determine the correct space for non-binary and intersex individuals.
The Supreme Court and EHRC announcements were met with fierce resistance at the protest in Hull, where trans people and their allies chanted: “Not the courts, not the state! We decide our own fate.”
One speaker said in a speech: “I do not need the permission of my peerage or my parents or my parliament to be who I was born to be.
“So long as my spirit resides in this trans body, no one will ever take my love and laughter, and I will fight for you the same as you fight for me.”
The Hull protest followed similar demontrations across the country, including one in London on Saturday 19 April which drew a reported 20,000 people, alongside events in nearby Sheffield, York and Leeds.
It was supported by grassroots community organisations, charities, and trade unions, including Last Pick Theatre, Trans Hull, the Hull and District Trades Union Council and Hull Against Hate.