Tens of thousands of people marched through London for Trans Pride on Saturday.
A mother of a trans woman who took her own life has said “more children are going to die” unless the new Prime Minister works to reverse the “anti-trans policies” that Sir Keir Starmer oversaw.
Alice Litman, 20, had spent 1,023 days waiting for gender-affirming care when she took her own life in May 2022.
Her mother, former NHS psychiatrist Caroline Litman, told the Press Association that the situation for trans people has deteriorated since then.
Ms Litman’s comments came as tens of thousands of people gathered in the baking heat to march through London for trans pride – a year after an estimated 100,000 attended the same event.
It started near the BBC’s central London headquarters, and placards read “let people piss in peace”, “marching for all my trans siblings past and present” and “these meds save lives”.
Before it began, Ms Litman explained how her youngest daughter Alice had faced name-calling, sexism, deadnaming, biphobia and a “litany of errors” as she tried to seek out gender-affirming care.
Asked how the circumstances for trans people have since changed, Ms Litman told PA: “I just keep fighting, but it very often feels like nobody is listening.”
She added: “Things have got so much worse, and it’s just so disappointing because my family chose to go public with (Alice’s) inquest in an effort to raise awareness of the terrible wait lists and to really bring about change, and it’s just got worse and worse and worse since that happened, and it’s just so disappointing.
“And I kind of carry a lot of burden – I feel like we have failed in our aims and it’s really, really disappointing.”
Two of her examples were the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on single-sex spaces, and the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance which she described as “Section 28 mark two”.
Addressing Andy Burnham, she said: “The new Prime Minister needs to completely reverse Labour’s policy on trans rights, trans existence.”
She laughed as she added: “That’s not going to happen, is it?”
The co-founder of advocacy group Transparent Action continued: “Andy, if you’re listening, I’m the mother of a trans child who took her life by suicide and more children are going to die on your watch if you don’t do something to reverse the anti-trans policies that your predecessor has overseen.
“This is telling you loud and clear: it will happen, and you will be responsible.
“More and more research is coming through every week, every month, to show that gender-affirming care is life-saving care, especially in under-18s.”
Award-winning author Juno Dawson reminded Mr Burnham: “Shall I tell you where loves trans people? Manchester.”
The Doctor Who writer and author of This Book Is Gay said: “If he’s going to be a Manchester Prime Minister he really does need to speak out, like the press are never going to support him.
“So he needs to just ignore that voice and go with what’s right, and actually what most women believe.
“By any poll, most women come out strongly in favour of trans rights and they are his voters, so.”
She added: “Keir Starmer won in a general election on a huge mandate, and part of that was pledging his support for the LGBT community, which he didn’t follow through with.
“I think Starmer was very, very scared of the British media, which is ironic because they were never going to support him – he could have done anything and they were going to be against his government.
“So what I would say to Andy Burnham is: the tabloids aren’t going to support you anyway, so you might as well act with kindness and compassion.”
Meanwhile Alfie Bailey-Bearfield, advocacy lead at the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance, said this year’s pride comes amid a “hostile environment” for trans people.
Their organisation focuses on overturning the “harm caused by For Women Scotland” and ultimately seeks to overturn the Supreme Court ruling, he said.
For Women Scotland won a landmark legal case in the UK’s highest court which found the terms woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.
The EHRC’s guidance on single-sex spaces will set out how single-sex services must now be provided on the basis of biological sex.
“I’m all too aware of the fact that as a trans man under this new guidance, I shouldn’t really be going to a women’s toilet, shouldn’t really be going to a men’s toilet, and that excludes people like me from public life and it’s affecting non-binary people, trans women, trans men,” Mr Bailey-Bearfield told PA.
Trans+ Solidarity Alliance is “seeing really worrying huge numbers of people self-excluding” such as by quitting jobs or staying away from the office.
