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Trans rights protest to ‘resist the EHRC’
The updated code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will only further marginalise trans people in public life, according to trans rights protesters in Bristol.
Gathering on College Green on Saturday morning, their aim was show solidarity with the trans community and raise awareness of what they argue will be the impact of the watchdog’s new guidance on trans people in our city and beyond.
The rally, organised by trans rights groups including Bristol Pride, started at 11am and brought together dozens of trans people and their allies, many holding blue and pink banners and placards aloft.
‘Our fight for bodily rights,’ read one, as well as ‘resist the EHRC’.
‘Trans liberation now’
The protest was one of several in the last month across the country after guidance was issued stating that single-sex toilets and changing rooms in England, Wales and Scotland must exclude transgender men and women.
The document sets out how public bodies, businesses and other service providers should respond in practical terms to the Supreme Court’s landmark April 2025 ruling that sex in the Equality Act refers only to biological sex.
College Green was the setting of the protest for trans rights and recognition
Addressing the crowd, the Bristol artist Roux said that discrimination against trans people had been growing for years.
“It has been the past ten to 15 years of escalating violence against our community, pushing us systemically out of education, out of healthcare centres, out of employment,” he said.
“The segregation that is being proposed by the EHRC laws is already socially in place.”
Bristol Pride branded the guidance “unworkable and cruel” and said they would continue opposing measures they believe discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people.
All photos: Rob Browne
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