Thanks to all Transpilot does in supporting the Trans+ community, I was asked to be the keynote speaker for this year’s Pride celebration. Here is my speech – with link to the video below.

My name is Gini.

I am a trans woman. I’m six feet tall, I have long red hair, I’m wearing a salmon pink dress, and I’m 61 years old. My age matters.

Within my lifetime being gay was illegal in the UK.

I was alive when the Stonewall Riots happened.

I remember 1975, when the UK government passed the Sex Equality Act, before which a married woman needed her husband’s approval for almost everything in life.

In the 1980s I witnessed the emergence of HIV.
I lost friends to AIDS.

I saw how gay men were blamed for their own suffering: abandoned and left to die, without dignity, without care, because society saw their suffering as deserved. Then in 1988 came Section 28, a law that told young LGBTQ+ people they were unmentionable, unworthy, and undeserving.

But I’ve also witnessed positive change.
Real, powerful, change.

Out of the Stonewall riots came Pride.
I saw the ‘T’ added to LGB.
The repeal of Section 28.
The Gender Recognition Act of 2004.
The Equality Act of 2010.

These weren’t just policies. They were lifelines. They gave our community hope that we were seen, that we mattered, that a brighter future was possible.

And we flourished.

I socially transitioned just three years ago, after more than four decades of living in the shadow of “what if?”

For 45 years, I carried broken dreams and unfulfilled promises. I didn’t fully know who I was because the world kept defining me by its values without acknowledging what I felt. I clung to fleeting moments of joy, always shadowed by fear.

Fear for my safety.

Fear that one day I wouldn’t pull back from the edge of darkness.

Being transgender is not a choice.

But choosing to transition? That choice saved my life.
And the woman I am has now emerged.

She smiles. She cries. She is strong, confident, and whole.
She is happy, finally, in her own skin.

What I was unprepared for was the perfect storm of gender-critical views and transphobia. Maybe it had always been circling, but this year it hit like a wave.

Just four months ago the UK Supreme Court ruled on a technicality in the Equality Act but, instead of bringing clarity, it blew the bloody doors off. Almost immediately the EHRC released new anti-trans guidance.

Then the Prime Minister walked back on promises to our community. Suddenly it was clear: the TERF agenda wasn’t just fringe, it was coordinated. TERFs and their gender critical ideology have burrowed deep into policy and power.

It may feel dark right now. But as someone who’s seen this kind of darkness before, let me tell you something: there is light!

I saw it at the Mass Lobby of Parliament. Over 1,000 of us stood together to meet our MPs: trans people, allies, friends, families. We came away that day with something precious – hope.

That day something shifted. The tide began to turn, and the light is shining brighter.

• • 40,000 cis women have signed the Not In Our Name petition supporting trans people.
  • 52,000 people responded to the EHRC’s consultation.
  • 100,000 people marched at London Trans Pride: in front of me, beside me, behind me.

Let the TERFs spout their bigotry from their isolated ivory towers! 

The streets? The streets belong to us, to our community, alongside our allies, and everyone who believes in equality.

But let me be clear: this fight is not just about trans rights. It never was.

If we don’t stand together, queer people and allies alike, this government and its hate-filled overseers will come for all of us. History tells us that, and I’ve lived that history.

That’s why we must hold the line. Not just for trans people. Not just for me.
But for every person who dares to be themselves in a world that denies us too readily.

At every Pride I’ve attended since April I’ve seen something beautiful: a community growing, not just in size, but in strength:

in determination
in courage
in compassion
in resolve.

We are more joyful.
We are ready.
We are unafraid.
We are united.

And we are not going back,
Not now.
Not ever.

Thank you.