Trans Pride Brighton and Hove is a pride protest and community festival advocating transgender rights. Held in Brighton and Hove, England. The event takes place annually beginning in 2013. [1] [2]
Trans Pride Brighton and Hove was founded in 2013, the first trans-specific pride event to be held in the UK. [3] The co-founders included Fox Fisher, Sarah Savage, Stephanie Scott and Sabah Choudrey. [4][ failed verification]
The 2016 event saw attendance of several hundred people. [5]
The 2017 event saw attendance of 2,500 people. [6]
The 2018 event saw attendance of 5,000 people. [7]
The 2019 event saw an attendance of 8,000 people, 2000 more than was anticipated by the organisers. [8] The march that year used the slogan "putting the T first," in reference to the acronym LGBT, where the T is usually placed as the last letter. [9]
In 2020 and 2021, in-person events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, with events being held virtually instead. [10] [11] The 2020 digital events saw a total audience of 10 000 viewers. [12]
In 2022, in-person events returned and saw an attendance of over 20,000 people. [13] The community festival held in Brunswick Square Gardens was headlined by performance artist Travis Alabanza. [14] An hour into the event they ran into technical difficulties with their card machines, causing an estimated loss of £25,000. [15]
The organisation team behind Trans Pride Brighton opened the Trans Pride Center in 2022, a community space specifically for trans and nonbinary people. [16]
In 2023 they were awarded the Grassroots Pride of The Year award by Gaydio. [17] The 2023 event celebrated 10 years of Trans Pride and had 30,000 attendees despite a yellow Weather warning causing the parade route to be changed. The windy weather made it unsafe to host the event in Brunswick Square Gardens. [18] Instead the Saturday park events were held in the Brighton Dome, The Queery, the Ledward Centre, and The Actors, with the venues offering the spaces at no cost. [19] A beach party was planned for the Sunday, but had to be cancelled due to a fire breaking out in the Royal Albion Hotel the night before. [20] The organisation explained it was due to the smoke, and safety concerns. [21]
In December 2023 Trans Pride Brighton announced, in a now deleted post, that they were undergoing management changes due to a number of challenges. The post referenced several incidents that were being investigated, but provided no further details. It was signed by Fox Fisher and came several hours after the charity announced a fundraiser for the Trans Pride Center. The goal was set at £27,500, to help cover the cost of the lease. They referenced the issues with card machines, and weather at their last two events as the reason they were struggling to cover the cost of the lease, and warned that if they weren't able to hit their goal the center would close in March 2024. [22]