MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

'No place for hate': Police remove lesbian protesters who crashed the Pride Cymru 2022 parade

The chair of Pride Cymru, Gian Molinu, said, 'Today’s Pride Cymru parade was all about celebration and LGBTQ+ rights'

CARDIFF, WALES: Police removed a group of lesbians from a gay pride march in Cardiff after an officer was filmed telling the gender-critical women to step aside due to ‘confrontation’ with transgender marchers and their supporters. A video shows lesbian and a transgender woman shouting at each other on the road. The activist group ‘Get The L Out UK’, which "stands against transgenderism," shared footage from on August, 27, at Cardiff, Pride Cymru, 2022 event.

In the clip, at the Cardiff Pride event, two rival marchers can be seen shouting at each other on St Mary Street during the LGBT+ march. Organizers of the event, Pride Cymru, have since claimed the lesbian group had "interrupted" the march, and were not registered to attend. The police officer can be heard saying to the women that their group is "causing confrontation between different groups of people." The group were holding banners that said "transactivism erases lesbians" and "lesbians don’t like penises." South Wales Police said the group was cooperative and left the area shortly after. 

READ MORE

Harry Styles' Queer mask slips: Singer's comments on 'gay sex' spark backlash from community

Controversial Libs of TikTok founder accused of spreading 'violence against LGBTQ children and allies'

The officer said in the video, "At the moment, your march, this group of people is causing confrontation between different groups of people." Women are then heard replying "we’re lesbians, it’s Cardiff pride." The police officer replies, saying "whatever you are… at the moment, is causing confrontation." 'Get The L Out UK', a lesbian activist group that "stands against transgenderism," from the shared footage from the Cardiff Pride event.  A police officer told one of the women, "To make sure you’re safe, we are going to remove you from the road." A woman replies, stating, "I want to make sure that I understand that you’re removing lesbians from an LGBT march." The officer confirms that "yes, that is what’s happening.. for safety, for your safety for other people’s safety that’s why I’m doing it." The woman replies, saying, "you should be able to protect lesbians in a pride march." The officer adds, "We can have further conversations about reasons why, at the side of the road, because otherwise, you are going to be removed from the road."

'Trans ideology' and the concept of self-ID, which promotes the belief that anyone - regardless of their sex at birth should have the right to determine their own gender without medical intervention has sparked huge anger over male-born trans women having access to female-only spaces like changing rooms, toilets and refuges. The video has sparked an online row about the decision, with some people suggesting that 'Get The L Out UK' were not registered members of the parade, and had "crashed" the event. "At the moment, your march, this group of people is causing confrontation between different groups of people," the officer said. "If they need protection for their own safety, then the police should march with them and protect them," one commenter on Twitter said. "Lesbians. In danger. At a Pride march. And the police tell *them* to get out, instead of dealing with those who are doing the threatening. What has Pride become? What have the police become? I can hardly believe what I’m seeing," another person said. Former professional tennis player Martina Navratilova shared the video, adding, "This shows just how ridiculous and sideways things are going in our LGBT community. Erasing the L…Wow…misogyny is alive and well."

The video has sparked an online row about the decision, as 'Get The L Out UK' was not a registered member of the parade, and had "crashed" the event. Writer Andrew Doyle added, "The police removing lesbians from a pride parade. The pride movement no longer supports gay people." Author Julie Bindel said, "When I came out as a lesbian in the 1970s it was pretty tough. The misogyny was off the scale, and men would shout at us about how all we needed was a good f**k. Police were rarely sympathetic when we were victims of bigotry and abuse. Thank god those days are over. Oh, wait…." However, another questioned, "If you want to ‘get the L out’ why go to an LGBT event?" "Most women and lesbians cheered when you were moved on. You don’t represent their majority view. You attended solely as an anti-trans group," a third person said. "Removing homophobes and transphobes from Pride is good, someone else added. ‘Even if they themselves are LGBT Homophobes and transphobes are not welcome at Pride as it is a protest against that very thing."

"They were removed because they went there specifically to spread hate about trans people," a further commenter said. "But of course you are using this to make it seem like the opposite, in order to further hurt the trans community. Because you’re not a good person." Another added, "They were removed because they stood in the road and stopped the pride parade from continuing, not because they were lesbians. It was because they were disrupting the event." Chair of Pride Cymru, Gian Molinu, said, "Today’s Pride Cymru parade was all about celebration and LGBTQ+ rights. Despite a small group of people interrupting the march, they were drowned out by shouts of solidarity and the community and spectators. There is no place for hate at Pride. And as our parade said today loudly and clearly, “trans rights are human rights."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.