Anti-trans protesters took over the front of Pride in London

Pride in London has been “hijacked” by a group of anti-transgender campaigners who forced their way to the front of the march.

The annual Pride march today was set to be led by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and NHS staff, but has been disrupted as an anti-trans group forced their way to the front of the parade.

A PinkNews reporter filmed live from the scene and witnessed the group of about ten women take the lead spot of Pride, with security and police doing nothing to remove them.

The group carried signs with anti-trans slogans, such as “transactivists erase lesbians”, while they distributed leaflets opposing trans-friendly reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, and calling for trans women to be banned from women’s spaces.

The campaigners briefly lay on the ground to physically block the march from continuing, but after negotiations with Pride staff were permitted to get up and march the entire route.

PinkNews interviewed several of the protesters as they led the parade across much of the city, to a confused reaction from the crowds.

They were allowed to continue unhindered by organisers, even as physical crowd management was repeatedly used to push back members of the media.

Speaking to PinkNews, one of the women said: “We want to get the L out of Pride, a man cannot be a lesbian, a person with a penis cannot be a lesbian.” She purported that there was “a lot of sympathy in the crowd” for this view, despite boos and shouts of “shame” at the group.

Another marcher said: “Men are saying they are trans, they are lesbians and they pressure lesbians to have sex with them.”

Asked in what way this happened, she stated that she and others had been called TERFs (Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminists) online.

Imagine being trans, coming to LGBT Pride in London, and discovering that there is a group at the front with a banner declaring that trans folks “erase” lesbians. I hope @PrideInLondon will act quickly and decisively – from one feed I saw they appeared to be leading the march! — Dougie Robertson (@d0ug7a5) July 7, 2018

There were several altercations between the women and other LGBT people at the event as the marched, with many angered that Pride was being led by a group seeking to exclude trans people.

One of the people involved in the confrontation told PinkNews “They hate trans people, they hate sex workers … they are just as bad as bigots saying gay people go to hell. It’s disgusting, this is a problem with what Pride has become.

“They were taking a bunch of photos [of me], I guarantee they’re going to go after me. They were trying to get my friend arrested for no ****ing reason.

“This is what happened when we ignore that Pride started as a riot led by trans women of colour.”

Update: Pride in London has now issued a statement.