PHOTOGRAPHY Alex Murphy
An estimated 150,000 people filled the streets of central London for this year’s London Trans+ Pride, making it the march’s biggest turnout to date and marking its first-ever finish in Trafalgar Square. Under the theme Our Future, Our Fight, trans+ people and allies gathered to call for justice, dignity and liberation amid an increasingly hostile political landscape, with the EHRC’s new Code of Practice – which instructs many service providers to exclude trans people from single-sex spaces, a move widely criticised by LGBTQIA+ organisations as discriminatory – due to come into effect on 5th August.
“I think our current fight is that we have a new Prime Minister and he needs to make sure that before August 5th, when the EHRC guidance becomes official, that actually we roll back away from that,” Zack Polanski, Green Party leader and BRICKS cover star, told us at the London Trans+ Pride press brunch ahead of the weekend march. “Ultimately, this is about dictating what gender should look like, and actually it’s up to people how they want to show up. It feels deeply authoritarian and regressive.”
“Our current fight is the recent EHRC guidance that is just inhumane,” said London Trans+ Pride organiser Lewis G Burton. “It’s a very small minority of well-funded bigots who have got the ear of the media and the government are making so much noise, but what we see at London Trans+ Pride is that we are loved.”
Speakers at the march included Kae Tempest, Ceyenne Doroshow, Qween Jean and Bambi Jordan Phillips, while a 96-metre Trans Unity Quilt – co–created by The Good Law Project, CN Lester and Mars Callick – was carried through the march before a rally beneath Teresa Margolles’ Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) installation in Trafalgar Square.
“My hope is not just that trans+ people exist or survive, but that they thrive, and that can only happen when politicians and the media actually turn up and make sure we’re centring and listening to trans+ people and their experiences,” said Polanski.
The march also took place during a deeply painful weekend for the global LGBTQIA+ community. On Saturday 25th July, after Berlin’s Christopher Street Day celebrations, a vehicle was driven into pedestrians in a violent attack near Berlin’s Pride route in Tiergarten, killing one person and injuring dozens more. German authorities are continuing to investigate the attack.
As communities across Europe mourn those affected, this weekend served as a stark reminder that Pride remains both a celebration of queer and trans joy and a collective demand for safety, dignity and the freedom to exist without fear. Burton added: “My hope for the future is that London Trans+ Pride doesn’t have to exist because we’re treated with dignity and respect, and we can just get on with our lives. That’s honestly the future I’m fighting for.”
Below, see a gallery shot by Alex Murphy from London Trans+ Pride 2026.
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