Oh, for fucks sake
Aug 2nd, 2008 by Rebecca
The aftermath of the London Pride fiasco keeps going on, it seems, and it isn’t getting any better.
Sarah’s description of a meeting with the Metropolitan Police over the issue is, um, wow. I especially like the bit where the Pride London representative stated that the ban on trans women using the proper bathrooms was instigated by Pride London, had been done for “health and safety reasons”, and that they wouldn’t have done it if they’d known it was illegal. As Sarah said - “How about not doing it because it’s wrong?”
There’s also a variety of other trainwrecks on behalf of both the police and Pride London, the most horrifying being that a trans woman was sexually assaulted as a direct consequence of the actions of the police officer and Pride steward that night, after being forced to use the men’s bathroom. Sarah ultimately raises the prospect of a trans boycott of the 2009 event, which sounds like it’s well and truly warranted at this point. I’m struggling to think of an example of where an LGBT organisation has behaved this badly towards the trans community - I suspect even HRC would be incapable of something like this.
Thanks to Helen for the heads up.