Trans rights are human rights was the enduring message at today’s first-ever Dublin Trans Pride, which drew over 1,000 people in what was both a joyous celebration of identity and a protest demanding more for the transgender community in Ireland.
The march started outside the Custom House, where over 1,000 people gathered to hear speeches from Trans Pride organiser Ollie Bell, Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger and representatives from the transgender rights movement in Northern Ireland.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), Q Soc and Take Back Trinity were among many student groups that attended today’s historic march, which despite heavy rainfall continued to march all the way from the Custom House to Fairview Park.
Shane De Rís represented TCDSU at Trans Pride, marching with both Take Back Trinity and with USI. “It’s been great to see a very strong student bloc and it’s recognition of the intersection between trans rights, workers’ rights, human rights and housing rights. It’s great to see we are all fighting the same fights and working towards the same goal”, De Rís told The University Times.
USI Vice-President for Welfare Damien McClean commended students attending the march: “We’ve a lot of students here and it’s fantastic to see so many people out supporting trans rights and especially so many students supporting their trans friends.”
At the march today, speakers condemned the increasing commercialisation of Pride and praised the organisers for mobilising people in this separate day of protest and celebration.
Those marching today had many demands. Improved access to transgender healthcare, an end to intersex genital mutilation, improved housing and the separation of church and state were some of the main focuses of today’s march.
Speaking to The University Times, Trans Pride organiser Ollie Bell spoke about why they organised today’s event: “Even though we have marriage equality and the gender recognition act and repeal, we still need so much more. We have so much more to fight for and pride has become over-commercialised and people feel like pride should go back to its radical roots, which is what we’re doing – we’re protesting.”
Bell said that they hoped the grassroots Trans Pride event would be held annually. “There’s definitely the interest there”, they said.
Q Soc had a strong showing at the march and the rain did nothing to curb their enthusiasm. Speaking to The University Times, the Chairperson of Q Soc Felix O’Connor said that “Q Soc is marching for trans rights, for better trans healthcare”.
“We’re marching in support of the separation of church and state because overwhelmingly it’s the LGBT community, women, minorities and oppressed people in this country that suffer from the Catholic church’s grip over the country”, he said.
O’Connor echoed Bell’s sentiments, saying that he hoped the event would be held annually: “The support is there. People are angry about how mainstream pride has been co-opted by big businesses and corporate interests and turned into a glorified networking event. I hope this is an annual thing – a real grassroots pride that actually listens to members of the committee instead of being taken over by corporate interests.”
Noah Halpin, the leader of the This is Me campaign for trans healthcare and organised the Trans healthcare protest earlier this month, spoke at the closing rally today.
“It’s not good enough that we must be diagnosed with a psychiatric condition just to access the healthcare that we need. It’s not good enough that there are no surgeons in this country who can perform gender affirmation surgery, forcing trans and non-binary people abroad for major surgery and no aftercare upon their return. Does this sound familiar?”, Halpin said, referencing the repeal campaign.
The theme of today’s Trans Pride was bodily autonomy, something that was central to the message of the repeal campaign, which had its victory in May after a long battle for abortion rights. Many of the organisations involved in the repeal campaign attended today’s march in support of trans rights and tied the struggle for repeal and for transgender rights together.
Laura Harmon, a former USI President and Women in Leadership Coordinator at the National Women’s Council of Ireland, speaking to The University Times, said: “We really want to stand in solidarity with the trans community. We have many member of the women’s council who are members of the trans community and at our most recent AGM there was a motion that passed unanimously that we would include the trans community in all of our work.”
Harmon commended the “amazing turnout”: “People really want to support this and the National Women’s Council are proud to stand with the trans community today.”
Representing the Abortion Rights Campaign, Emma Allen, said that “Trans rights are human rights and it’s all about bodily autonomy and we are proud to stand in solidarity with our trans sisters and brothers and with the trans community in Ireland”.
Take Back Trinity also attended today’s march, under the banner of Dublin City Housing Action. Speaking to The University Times, Seán Egan, one of the leaders of Take Back Trinity, said: “We were inspired by the organisers’ calls for public housing as part of a radical agenda to deal with the inequity facing trans people especially but all LGBT people.”
He emphasised the difficulties that the LGBT community have when it comes to housing in Ireland: “LGBT people are much more likely to come into conflict with their families and so are much more at risk of homelessness. At present, the government believes that living with your family, no matter how stressful or unhappy that may be is being adequately housed. The organisers of Trans Pride recognise that that’s an absolute travesty and a joke and that needs to be changed.”
Oisin Vince Coulter, the President of the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) also marched with the housing bloc at today’s Trans Pride.“I’m marching today because Trans rights are human rights, because I think it’s absolutely essential that we tie together the different struggles”, he said.
“We show support for them their time of need and they show support for us in our time in need. That’s solidarity in action”, he continued.
Representatives from various political parties were present at today’s march. Sinn Féin Senator Fintan Warfield spoke to The University Times about his support of transgender rights: “We are here in solidarity with the trans community and we are here calling for gender recognition for young people and for trans healthcare to be in line with the World Health Organisation best practice. We are delighted to be here in solidarity and we wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy trans pride.”
Sarah Durcan, a Social Democrat candidate in Dublin Bay South, speaking to The University Times, said: “We believe trans rights are human rights and everybody need support to be who they are and get proper healthcare and be looked after by the state in the same way that everybody else is.”
“People can’t wait to have their rights vindicated. We need to make sure that the state both protects those rights and promotes those rights in an efficient way”, she said.
