Prominent LBGT+ people come together to condemn anti-trans protesters at London Pride

'Trans women are an essential part of an intersectional and successful feminist struggle'

Thousands of people gathered in London for Pride 2018 (Angela Christofilou)

LGBT+ activists and their allies have come together to sign an open letter condemning the anti-trans protest that disrupted London's Pride parade over the weekend.

Enitled “Feminist solidarity: cis and trans people will not be divided,” it expresses “dismay” at the counter-protest and criticises the anti-trans group for being “unsisterly”.

It says: “We were dismayed to see London Pride being hijacked by a fringe group determined to divide the LGBTQIA+ community along the issue of trans rights, particularly rights for trans women, and arguing that the struggle for such rights erases cisgender lesbians. This cannot stand.

“Trans women are an essential part of an intersectional and successful feminist struggle."

It also praises lesbian feminists of all genders for fighting discrimination.

Signed by community leaders, artists and activists, including Chardine Taylor Stone, Jane Czyzselska, Juno Dawson and Sabah Choudrey, it also criticises the Pride parade organisers and sponsors.

"Pride itself has become a place for companies and organisations that have not historically played any part in the struggle for LGBTQIA+ rights, but now use the parade as a platform to sanitise their activities," it says. "Banks with deeply racist, colonial histories. Companies like G4S that run inhumane detention centres where many black and brown lesbian women are processed like cattle and sent back to the places they’ve experienced poverty and violence – the legacies of colonialism."

The letter comes after a group of 10 protesters disrupted the London Pride parade, lying down on the ground at the front of the march until officials persuaded them to move on.

The group, organising under the Twitter hashtag #GetTheLOut, carried banners and flyers stating “transactivism erases lesbians”. It also described the trans movement as “anti-lesbian”.

You can read the full letter here.