Thousands were in attendance at Birmingham Pride, and among them were plenty angry at both the Supreme Court ruling on trans rights and at the marketisation of Pride as a whole.
We spoke with dozens of attendees about what needs to happen if we are to fight back against these attacks on LGBTQ+ rights. For one, Pride cannot be separated from the broader working-class struggle. Despite the event having an apparent ‘no political parties’ rule, no-one objected to our presence. The struggle against the Supreme Court ruling needs to be linked to the fightback against the erosion of workers’ rights to cut across the division tactics of both Starmer’s Labour and the far right.
But given that the current major parties are in a race to the bottom, we need a new mass workers’ party, built and led by the trade unions, if we are to eliminate discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. Our services need to be run by the working class to ensure the unfair and inaccessible conditions of healthcare, education and housing, are reversed and run in the interests of all workers, including women and trans people.