Worcester's LGBT+ community comes together to support trans rights

What started as a meme on social media, ended up as a city centre protest with dozens in attendance.

The University of Worcester’s LGBTQIA+ Network held a protest in Cathedral Square on Thursday in response to Rishi Sunak’s plan to edit the Equality Act 2010.

Lin Perne, vice chair of the group, said: “We exist to fight against issues affecting the LGBT community.

“There is a lot of trans and non-binary people at our university and we want to let them know that we support them.

“Today we have had a lot of good feedback from people passing by.

“I’m from a different country and since moving here for university there are small things that were not the best but it has mostly been positive experiences.”

Lin, Frankie, Em, and Leo from the University of Worcester's LGBTQIA Network (Image: Newsquest)

“The LGBT community in Worcester is here, now it’s just about finding it and bringing it together,” added Em Room, the Network’s secretary.

“What you see at the moment is just the bones of it, we want to start working with the community outside of the university.”

READ MORE: 'Amending the Equality Act serves no purpose ' says prominent transwoman in Worcester

The protest, which took place from 1pm to 5pm, came in response to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to amend the Equality Act 2010.

During his first battle for Conservative Party leadership, Mr Sunak vowed to put a stop to ‘woke nonsense’ and wanted to preserve gendered nouns by ensuring that sex means biological sex.

This would mean that a biological male, who identifies as a woman, would have to go by their biological sex.

Leo Pawlin, the LGBTQIA+ Network’s inclusivity rep, said: “We think that trans rights should be protected.”

The group’s chair, Frankie, added: “I jokingly put a meme about Rishi Sunak in the chat.

“Then we thought, actually we should hold a protest about this.

“You can’t call it an equality act when you are missing people out.”

Sugar Daddy's Cafe owners André Oldfield and Sam Robertshaw-Krieger (Image: Newsquest)

Among those showing their support for the protest was the team from Sugar Daddy’s Café, on Trinity Passage, who closed for the afternoon to join in.

Owner Andre Oldfield said: “We’re here because we pride ourselves in being a pillar of the local queer community, how can we be that if don’t show our support?

“Worcester is quite inclusive, but I think there’s always more to be done.”