Trans pride and why it matters
Sparkle, the UK’s leading trans event, announced that it has a funding shortfall due to a sponsor pulling out. Their social media posts have asked for donations to keep their events running, yet it is a sign that funding for trans events and community work more broadly is being impacted by inflation, austerity, and gender critical voices. Trans voices have always been on the margins of society, either treated as sensations and exceptions, or left out in the cold when LGB rights are being fought over. Historically this has meant that when trans activists do engage with LGB rights it is always on LGB terms, with issues such as marriage, housing, adoption, and benefits more-or-less overlapping. It is in the less overlap, such as heteronormative expectations on trans people to pass within society, that has resulted in many trans rights becoming disjoined. This is why funding and pride matter, to show that the disunion between the T and the TGBQ is smoke and mirrors, and that we all need to stand together in the face of the reactionary storm brewing worldwide.
I have been going to Sparkle for neigh on 15 years at this point, and it is always telling that the event itself is as much a get together as it is a celebration. Pre-Covid there were a week long series of events, enabling a plethora of trans voices to be heard, and then on the day the community came together simply to be. Now things feel…
