Hundreds take part in city centre Radical Pride march in Sheffield

The demonstration came the day after International Trans Day of Visibility and focused on trans rights. The energetic march was filled with demonstrators carrying a wide array of colourful banners and placards.

Protesters stopped at a number of buildings, including Sheffield Crown Court, the Town Hall, Snig Hill Police Station and the Home Office’s Vulcan House. A speech was delivered at each site challenging what they described as “institutional anti-queerness” and claiming “the people responsible for legislating on trans lives are not representative of the community.”

Outside the Town Hall, one protester said: “The people responsible for legislating on trans lives are not representative of the community they aim to oppress. This prevents trans people from being able to make legislative decisions that affect their lives.”

The protest was called by Radical Pride Sheffield. They are organising what will be Sheffield’s only Pride this year and want to hold an event that is accessible to everyone and drops what critics call pinkwashing - the presence of corporations, military and police forces in Pride through partnerships and sponsorship.

Another protester said of the march: “It’s been so empowering to see how many people have come out at such short notice. This shows how much appetite there is among queer people in Sheffield for a Pride which is a protest, not simply a corporate pinkwashing party.”

Historically, the first Pride march was in the 1970’s in New York.

Sheffield Radical Pride wants to ‘Reclaim Pride as our own, for queer people’ and are encouraging queer people across the city to get involved and return Pride to its grassroots protest origins.

The group expect their Pride event will happen later this summer and expect to announce a date soon.