Trans Pride began in Brighton in 2013 and is still going strong, despite existing purely online for two years because of Covid, aka the Sofa Years 2020–21.
For the first two years I was very careful of people’s privacy and only took a couple of photos, focusing instead on being in the moment with my trans and cis mates. However by 2015 I really wanted to record the impressive event it had become, so I did some filming with my phone not knowing if I’d do anything with it or not.
The first two years of Trans Pride had featured a gathering on the grass at the New Steine. In 2015 it moved to Dorset Gardens which was a better shape, provided some shade and escaped the traffic noise from the seafront. It was a great afternoon with some poignant speeches, musical performers and some hilarious trans speed dating. The highlight for me was Kate O’Donnell, singing Stand By Your Trans with the Rainbow Chorus, so I was pleased to get some of that on film.
You might say that if you go on a public demonstration then you can expect to have your photo taken, but I was still concerned with people’s privacy and safety so the files sat on my computer for a few years. After I decided to use Kate’s intro and her singing with the chorus over the march, it made complete sense to speed the crowd up, and my compromise was complete.
Finally I owe a big thanks to Carl who had no idea he’d end up on YouTube after our messing around on the day, but he was generous enough to let me include him anyway.
If you want to see more here is a link to the day in pictures on the Trans Pride website.
This video is on show in Brighton Museum and Art Gallery as part of the Queer The Pier exhibition, as well as my Wild Fruit waistcoat among other things.
