Major Parties Barred from Key Pride Marches

The Metro Newspaper reports that Brighton, London, Manchester and Birmingham Prides have formally barred political parties from participation in their marches or voluntary community stalls.  The move comes as the major two political parties in the UK, Labour and the Conservatives, engaged inm an unseemly backtrack on trans people's rights.  Pride organisers said "Organisers added: ‘We demand real commitments and measurable progress. The Pride movement was born from protest, and we must continue to embody that spirit with intention and urgency."  The move was supported by many in the community increasingly exasperated by the Labour Party's rightward drift, and its clampdowns on pensions, benefits and welfare as well as backtracking on LGBTQIA rights.  On the other hand, veteran gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell argued that some smaller parties with better records on LGBT+ rights, such as the Greens, or the SWP or anarchist groups, should be permitted to march as their solidarity has been much stronger.