Newbury Pride's Statement on Political Parties
This year, Newbury Pride takes a stand like never before. In solidarity with Pride organisations across the UK, we have made the difficult decision to ban all political parties from participating in our event and march.
We welcome everyone to join us, but please do so without a party banner. Allyship isn’t something you wear on a sash; it’s something you demonstrate through action. We take this decision with heavy hearts but unwavering conviction. The rights, dignity, and safety of our trans siblings are under attack, not just in distant places but right here in the UK, right now.
Just ten years ago, the UK was leading Europe in LGBTQIA+ rights. Today, we have fallen to a dismal 22nd place - this isn’t a gradual decline; it’s a free fall. We will not allow political parties to march alongside us whilst standing idle or, worse, complicit in this descent.
The recent Supreme Court ruling that excludes trans women from the legal definition of “woman” is not just a legal decision; it’s a message, a warning, and a call to action. This is not about partisanship; it’s about principle. Even in the darkest years of the 80s and 90s, Pride did not take this step which shows how grave the situation has become. In those days, Prides stood shoulder to shoulder with the striking miners as injustice against one group is injustice against all.
We don’t need your promises; we need your courage.
We demand:
• Full, enforceable protections under the Equality Act.
• A complete, loophole-free ban on Conversion Practices.
• Timely, respectful access to gender-affirming healthcare on the NHS.
• A reformed, accessible process for Gender Recognition Certificates.
• Long-term, sustainable funding for trans-led organisations.
Pride began as a protest, and this year, we return to our roots because our community is under siege, and silence is not an option. Don’t debate our existence, delay our rights, or decide for us without us.
To every political party: If you want to be part of Pride, show us. Not with floats or flags, but with action, policy, and protection. Trans people are not a political football: we are your family; your friends; your neighbours, and we are done waiting.
Newbury Pride Committee
Some background information
by Andrea Brookes
As has been stated above the UK has fallen horrendously from a position of being the safest place in Europe to be a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to 22nd this year. Without change for the positive the UK will be challenging some of the most authoritarian countries in the world in it's attitude towards LGBTQIA+ people, countries such as Russia, Hungary or even the USA as it is rapidly becoming. For fifteen years the understanding of the Gender Recognition Act when it says that trans people should be regarded for all purposes as being equal to those born into the same gender as their acquired gender was that trans women were women and trans men were men, but as of April 16th this year that understanding was overturned - despite the evidence being available to the court that their interpretation is the opposite to the intention of government at the time, the Supreme Court managed to reinterpret that intention based on an unrelated section of the Equalities Act and by so doing created the entirely foreseeable confusion and fear that we are currently experiencing. This also despite there being no viable scientific or medical evidence to support their conclusion, in fact it was a ruling that thousands of doctors, biologists and researchers described as being medically and scientifically illiterate. The Equality and Human Rights Commission rushed to introduce some updated guidelines which completely over interprets the Supreme Court ruling and suggests strongly that providers of single sex services should exclude trans people from the service that matches their acquired gender and that these displaced people should either use the service that accords with their birth sex, or a mythical third space. This third space is often taken to mean disabled facilities which is, in itself, discrimination against disabled persons. This form of discrimination by the EHRC is not unexpected as neither is that towards trans people, they have been called out for years now on this attitude specifically towards both of these groups. They have also created these guidelines despite the fact that there is no credible evidence of there being any threat to cis women or cis girls from trans women. The real threat comes from cis men as it always has and they will not be stopped from entering single sex spaces to harm women and girls, trans or cis, by a change in a guideline or a sign on a door - they most definitely will not put on a dress to do this either as that would be such an affront to the fragile ego that so many of these perpetrators manifest that it would be sheer anathema to them - we are not in any way saying that this is all cis men, just that the vast majority of those that harm women and girls are cis men.
Most recently a senior member of the EHRC board has stated in the press that transgender people should expect to have less rights than other people - this is an outrageous statement from the EQUALITIES commission.
The EHRC is empowered to uphold and defend the equalities and human rights as defined by the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular articles 8, 14 and in some cases 3, yet by issuing this guidance it is attempting to return the UK back to the same situation it was in prior to 2010 when it was found to be in contravention of the convention especially with regard to transgender people. The fact that the EHRC has systematically attempted over several years to erode these rights from trans people is simply unacceptable.
For several years the community has been promised a full and comprehensive ban on the barbaric practice of Conversion Therapy, quite rightly described by the United Nations as torture. These promises have either excluded key members of the community, have been delayed or have left so many loopholes to be totally ineffective. This came to a head a few years ago when the Conservative government had to cancel it's lauded Safe To Be Me conference when every LGBTQIA+ organisation pulled out of it due to the government's exclusion of trans people from the proposed ban - No LGB without the T was a hashtag that trended as a result and remains a fundamental concept of the Pride movement. Despite a change in government no progress has been made on introducing the ban promised in the election - this is simply not acceptable.
Last year the outgoing Conservative government using the discredited and rejected by all peer reviews, Cass Report as justification, introduced a ban on the use of Puberty Blockers (or Pausing meds) for trans youth. This despite the rest of the world accepting and supporting their use as being proven best practice medication for trans youth in the right circumstances. This ban was supported and extended by the new Labour government and the provision of trans youth healthcare has been further restricted - in fact the new proposed services are more akin to Conversion Therapy than they are to healthcare. It is important to note that Puberty Blockers and cross-sex hormones administered in a medically and psychiatrically managed treatment plan in agreement with the doctors, parents and youths involved has been proven internationally and until recently in the UK to be THE MOST EFFECTIVE method of treating trans youth. It should also be noted that following this well proven path has remarkably low levels of regret and detransition, between 0.5% and 1.7% - whereas hip replacements and similar have regret rates of around 20% or even higher. This was all information available to Dr Cass when she conducted her review, yet she chose to exclude this data as it did not meet her ideologically driven narrative. The safe administration of these medications is well understood and the few side-effects are effectively treated with easily available means. If the trans youth decides that this is not the right path for them, then they can be simply stopped and the paused puberty allowed to continue from the point at which it was paused. This is a proven step in the well understood, internationally recognised, best-practice treatment plan for trans youth and is always monitored by professionals who understand the issues and complexities in accordance with the support and care from the parents and the involvement of the trans youth themselves. NOBODY IS FORCING TRANSITION ON ANYONE. This shouldn't need to be mentioned but please remember that surgical intervention is not allowed until the patient is an adult.
All the main UK political parties have said things and made promises in support of LGBTQIA+ people but have not followed through with any practical or positive action for years, this is the primary reason that the UK is now considered to be so low in the table of countries where it is safe to be LGBTQIA+ in Europe, some parties have promised real support, but are not in a position to make that change happen. And as a charity Newbury Pride cannot favour any one party over any other and as such they make this stand, along with many other Prides across the UK, to ban political parties from attending marches and events and to make a statement that positive change is needed right now. All LGBTQIA+ people, along with their allies and supporters, stand as a community united against a common threat and will not be driven back into our closets.
For these and other reasons Newbury Pride have decided to take this step and reject any applications from a political party to march with us or to have a representation at the event. This is a ban on the parties not the individuals.
