London’s Trans+ Pride 2025 saw the largest turnout in its history with over 100,000 people participating. This year’s march theme was “Existence and Resistance,” likely in response to the U.K. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex instead of gender identity in non-discrimination laws.
Following the ruling, the country’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued guidance claiming trans women “should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities” in workplaces, or public-facing service buildings including hospitals.
LGBTQ Nation reports, Trans+ Solidarity Alliance – a group that participated in the march — said the EHRC’s guidance has “not provided any additional clarity, and actually is going to devastate the lives of trans people [who] will lose access to essential services and spaces.”
The U.K. has imposed various restrictions on the trans community in recent years, curtailing gender affirming care for minors via recent investigations by the National Health Service.
But the trans community is pushing back. At the trans+ march, activists and celebrities made speeches, including Yasmin Finney from Heartstopper and Caroline Litman, a mother whose trans daughter took her life in 2022 after waiting almost three years for gender-affirming care, according to BBC.
The first London Trans+ Pride took place in 2019, and this year’s march nearly doubled last year’s attendance of 60,000. “It was an emotional and powerful day,” event co-founder Lewis G. Burton told The Guardian. “At a time when the Supreme Court is making sweeping decisions about trans people without consulting a single trans person or organization, and when a small, well-funded lobby of anti-trans campaigners continues to dominate headlines and waste public resources, our community came together to show what real strength, solidarity and care looks like,” he continued.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in April LGBTQ+ people and allies took to the streets to protest in major cities including London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and more. According to Pink News, in London, over 20,000 demonstrators gathered at the city center to march with signs.
At Trans+ Pride the message was the same “we will not be erased” said Burton. “Our existence is natural, historic and enduring. You can try to take away our rights, but you will never remove us from society. We are a part of humanity – and the public will not stand by while harm is done to our community.”
