Trans Pride Parade To March Dublin Streets

The theme for the parade is ‘Bodily Autonomy’, and while it has been picked as a slight nod to the victory of the Repeal movement, its main aim is to highlight the issue of trans people not being granted control over their own bodies.

For instance, in Ireland, trans people can not request a legal change of gender until the age of sixteen under the Gender Recognition Bill. There is a two-year waiting list to visit an endocrinologist - the only method for a person to receive HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). Access to appropriate hormones can be expensive and virtually inaccessible for younger people living with unaccepting families. Due to a lack of gender-neutral bathrooms in many places across Ireland, trans people risk experiencing issues with harassment when entering their restroom of choice.

Marching from the steps of Liberty Hall towards Fairview Park on the 28th of July, the parade is expected to have over a thousand people participating.

Co-organiser Thomas White told Hot Press about the event and where the idea for a trans-specific parade came from.

“I was at a Trans Pride march in Northern Ireland a few weeks ago and noticed all of the positive momentum that was behind it. I thought about the need for something like it down in the south. Many people have been trying to organise something like it over the years but had to cancel for various reasons. I was speaking to a friend of mine about it, Ollie Bell and we just thought, “why not create an event ourselves?”

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With the city having enjoyed an explosion of colour and festivities over the weekend, Thomas explains the need for an event that brings Pride back to its political roots.

“One of the key reasons why we are calling this march is because Pride has become so corporatised, where companies like Facebook are joining in the celebrations, despite having what we consider to be a transphobic name-policy. Pride should be representative of the communities needs and the trans community still has a lot of pressing issues that need to be dealt with”.

White also told Hot Press about the amount of organising it takes to put on such an event, encouraging as many people as possible to get involved.

“At the moment , we are contacting different organisations about marching with us. We’re talking to organisations like TENI, ShoutOut, BeLonGTo and various LGBT trade union groups. We don’t want this to be a small thing,we want this to be a broad communal event where everyone can feel they are making an impact”.

A meeting will take place in the Outhouse on Monday July 9th at 6pm where anyone interested in attending the parade can learn how to get involved.

The parade is expected to commence at 2pm on July 28 from Liberty Hall in Dublin.