2022

2022 was our most ambitious programme of event yet and wow did everyone come out and show their trans pride!

Our rib-tickling Comedy Night was back for a sold out show and brought the house down! Thank you to June Tuesday, Liv Drake, May Thompson, our host Alasdair Wallace and our headliner Sam Williams!

Other performance highlights were our Night of Spoken Word, featuring the incredibly talented Bridget Hart, Ife Grillo, Blondie Glyn and headliner Roz Kaveney, and our Cabaret Night with comedy from Alasdair Wallace, live music from Elijah Dahl of ‘Oh, The Guilt’ and Jessica Rowbottom bringing her one-woman show ‘The Bleeding Obvious’!

We were delighted to collaborate with some incredible organisations this year; from our swimming taster session with Out to Swim West, to our youth drop in session with Freedom Youth, to our ‘Trans Truth’ panel with Bristol Feminist Collective. Thank you all so much for putting on some great events with us!

The Trans Pride South West weekend went off with a bang! We estimate a whopping 1,000 of you joined us for our Trans Pride March through city centre!

“The march was great with lots of good chants and flags and signs, all good vibes!” – feedback from the march

We had an amazing time at our annual Community Day, with stalls, a cafe, and workshops from SARI, Bristol Feminist Collective, and TransActual! Thank you everyone who joined us on the day, and kept the good vibes going at our trans masculine, trans feminine, and non-binary meet-ups.

“I loved the coffee area at Community Day – it was so great to be able to have a space to just chill and soak up the atmosphere!” – feedback from the Community Day

Finally, our afterparty… what can we say? We were priviledged to be collaborating with the incredible SNOG on producing a night we’ll remember forever. It was a night of cabaret, live music and DJs keeping us partying on; thank you to RED, Beanpig Puppets, Mariana Trench, Ernest the Drag King, Missterspoon, Candy HurtZz, Orderly Room, Pet Bitch, Sarahsson, Jaye Ward, Yaya Bones… oh, and CHELSEA MANNING!

We had an absolute blast – for a small group of volunteers, Trans Pride South West has grown beyond our wildest dreams, so thank you for coming on this journey with us. We can’t wait to see what happens next!

2021

It was great to get back to hosting events in person in 2021, while still hosting some virtual events. We had over 450 trans people and allies join us in celebrating Trans Pride South West at 10 events over 7 days.

We started on Tuesday with our Spoken and Written Word evening at the Watershed. Local poets Dru Marland, Aiysha Humphreys, Bridget Hart, Kat Lyons, Blondie and Vander Moule performed their poetry, and we heard from Dr Finn Mackay about their new book ‘Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars’.

“It was a really great experience and I felt my community” – feedback from the Spoken and Written Word evening

On Thursday, we held the return of our Comedy Night! It was another star-studded night of the UK’s best trans talent, including Ben Hodge and Maz Wallace, hosted by Dian Castal and headlined by Jen Ives! Special thanks to Zed Alley for hosting us and Jessie Johnson for planning such a hilarious evening.

On Friday, we held our annual Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil. Due to COVID-19, we held the vigil both as a livestream on Youtube, and as an installation at our Community Day. You can watch the vigil on Youtube here.

Saturday was a jam-packed day, which started at 11am on College Green with our Trans Pride Protest and March. The theme was “Unsafe to be me”, and we marched through the centre of Bristol with roughly 250 trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and intersex people and allies.

“[I enjoyed] the sheer number of people in the march… I also appreciated the quality of the speakers” – feedback from the Trans Pride Protest and March

Saturday continued with our Community Day held at the Station, featuring different charities, organisations, and businesses supporting the trans community. It also featured a number of other exhibits, including photography and a clothing swap hosted by the TIN Wardrobe. A special thanks to the Trans and Non-binary Cafe from University of Exeter for hosting the cafe space on the day, as well as all of the stallholders who gave up their time to support the trans community in the South West.

“Amazing people and lovely, welcoming community… well organised and friendly and appreciate so much the hard work you put into running the events.” – feedback from the Community Day

In the early evening, we held our annual trans masculine, trans feminine and non-binary meet-ups. It was great to see so many people there, and to see friends, old and new.

Then it was back to the Station for our Afterparty, hosted with the incredible Brizzle Boyz! The night featured fantastic live performances from Brizzle Boyz and banging beats which kept us dancing all night long! Thank you to the Station staff and security for hosting us and keeping us safe.

We finished the week with our Gender-free fashion discussion on Sunday. In this Youtube livestream, Bristol based performer Fluxx Wyldly talked to designers and artists about the importance of style as a form of self expression. Special thanks to our panellists Frosty “TheSewMan”, Diego Maeso, Mariana Trench and Fluxx Wyldly. Watch the panel discussion on Youtube here.

Thank you to everyone who came together to help us put on our 2021 events. Particular thank you’s to Don’t Tell Your Mother, who fundraised £1700 for us (!), and our 2021 sponsors: Burges Salmon, Aviva and Osborne Clarke.

2020

2020 was a difficult year, not only for the effects of COVID -19. Discrimination against the trans community in the UK is on the rise, and we planned to hold a safe and powerful protest in July with a line up of amazing guest speakers.

The largest LGBTQ+ event in the Bristol calendar, Bristol Pride, was cancelled from its usual July slot due to the effects of COVID – 19. Moving to virtual events in September, Trans Pride South West were given their own slot during the week’s showcase and produced “Trans and…”. A conversation with trans/nonbinary people about being more than just trans, including transitioning in later life, neurodiversity, and gender euphoria.

Trans Pride South West also went virtual this year. Despite the challenges, we had a great week jam-packed with 17 events, and a great turnout!

We started on Monday 16th November with a screening of our ‘Trans and…’ panel, originally cohosted with Bristol Pride during their online programme earlier in the year. The week continued with online workshops and screenings on wellbeing, geek culture, poetry, improv, and drawing.

On Friday 20th November, we recognised Transgender Day of Remembrance with an online vigil, hosted by Cheryl Morgan. Special thanks to Cheryl and Tiagx for hosting and reading the list of names of those killed this year, and thanks to everyone who tuned in.

Our main Trans Pride South West weekend startwed on Saturday 21st November with our Virtual Trans Pride march and Community Day. Thanks to everyone who submitted photos and videos for our virtual march, and all of the speakers and organisations who were part of our community day!

Saturday continuted with a special winter style clothing DIY workshop hosted by G(end)er Swap, our annual trans feminine, non-binary, and trans masculine meet ups, a Trans Pride themed “pub” quiz, and our official afterparty! The incredible DJustine kept us partying all night and we hit over 200 viewers!

On Sunday we were entertained by the wonderful Brizzle Boyz, in a drag-tastic Trans Pride special edition! Thanks to all of the performers, speakers, and organisers who joined us to make our 5th year of Trans Pride South West so wonderful.

Trans Pride South West was also awarded Best LGBT+ Organisation Award in the 2020 Bristol Diversity Awards. A cracking way to end the year!

2019

In 2019 we had our biggest and busiest year ever for Trans Pride South West! 

The week began with our vigil for Transgender Day of Remembrance on Wednesday 20th November, to honour individuals who lost their lives this year due to anti-transgender violence. The evening featured music and poetry and was hosted by Cheryl Morgan and supported by LGBT Bristol.

On Thursday 21st, we hosted our first ever Trans Pride Comedy Gig. The sold out show featured comedy from Jessie Johnson, Lily Konteh, our MC Laura Monmoth, and the incredible talents of Jordan Grey! The evening was a huge success, and special thanks go to Jessie for organising the evening’s events.

On Friday night we were honoured to co-host a Q&A with Bristol-born playwright Travis Alabanza, who has been touring their show ‘Burgerz’ across the UK. Our volunteer Ollie Tarbuck  was in conversation with Travis Alabanza about their play as part of the ‘Stage Talks’ series hosted with Bristol Festival of Ideas and Bristol Old Vic. A special thank you to Bristol Pride for organising this amazing event!

Our main Trans Pride South West events took place on Saturday 23rd November. We held Bristol’s first ever Trans Pride March from College Green through city centre, and were joined by 190 of you to march proudly through our city. 
The march led us to our Community Day at the Station on Silver Street, featuring over 30 trans and LGBT+ charities and organisations. The day also featured workshops on topics from art, self-expression, and sexual consent. Many thanks to every organisation that joined us on the day, as well as G(end)er Swap, Hair Matters, and Sex Talks for their brilliant and engaging workshops.

Saturday evening featured another first for Trans Pride South West – the debut performance of the Trans Pride South West pop-up choir! The choir, comprised of trans singers and allies, had been rehearsing for months, and gave a great performance of hits from musicals, the Beatles, and Anthony and the Johnsons. Many thanks to Francis Myerscough for creating the arrangements and leading the choir!

The evening continued with our yearly trans feminine, trans masculine, and non-binary meet-ups at To The Moon, The Old Market Assembly, and Bristol Bear Bar, before our Official Afterparty at The Old Market Assembly! We had DJs D-Justine, Dee2, and DJ Katy taking us through the night with great mixes to celebrate Trans Pride!

Our final event was our Trans Pride South West Cabaret on Sunday evening. The evening featured a variety of amazing performances from  Crystal Mighty, Mariana Trench, Rose-Mary Spayby, Jessika Atta – The Twisted Trans Sister, Kimwei, Kurt Sovain, and Oliver Assets! The evening was a great way to round of an amazing Trans Pride South West week, and we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

2018

Our events started on Wednesday 21st November with the Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil held at Bristol SU, hosted by Cheryl Morgan and supported by LGBT Bristol and MindLine Trans+. 

On the Thursday we teamed up with local queer platform Thorny to bring you a SOLD OUT night of cabaret, featuring  the talents of Shon Faye, Travis Alabanza, and Chiron Stamp.

On Saturday we held our annual Community Day at the Station on Silver Street. As well as being packed to the brim with stalls from local and national trans and LGBT+ charities and organisations, we also had a clothing swap hosted by G(end)er Swap. Many thanks to all the organisations that got involved!

Following our Community Day, My Umbrella hosted a Gender Workshop at To The Moon. This was really well-attended, with standing room only by the start of the workshop! Many thanks to the team from My Umbrella for this engaging workshop.

On Saturday evening, we had our annual trans masculine, trans feminine, and non-binary meet ups at Bristol Bear Bar and Old Market Assembly. Open to everyone, friends, and allies, our meet-ups are our favourite part of the Trans Pride South West weekend, and this year did not disappoint. It was a positive, friendly evening – thank you to all who came along!

We continued to celebrate with our official Trans Pride South West Afterparty held at Old Market Assembly. We were kept dancing all night by the talents of DJs Katy Willow & Gem from Manchester Sparkle, local to Bristol DJ D-Justine and our friends from Don’t Tell Your Mother (LloydiTron).

Finally, we rounded the week’s events off on Sunday with a special Trans Pride South West edition of SCRiTCH Cabaret – an open mic night for cabaret performers. The night was hugely successful, featuring amazing local trans talent and it was a very entertaining show!

Many thanks to everyone who made this year possible! We can’t wait to see you next year!

2017

What a weekend we had!  It began with a vigil for TDOR which was very draining for those who managed to attend (which was around 40 to 50) as it is obviously a difficult thing for the community to address but we had lots of support for one another and the event was well attended.

For those who could still get out and about there was cabaret in Old Market and a joint fundraiser with Brigstow at Queen Shilling.

Saturday saw us starting with the community info day event at The Station in Silver street Bristol, which was hired with the support of LGBT Bristol.  Apart from running out of coffee cups which we managed to eventually address thanks to the bringer of cups 😉  it was fantastic, positive, diverse and really well attended.

Baal (Facebook: @baalfashion) were the focus for the Fashion show at To The Moon on Saturday afternoon, It was a great showing of clothes from Baal which is all on a unique Transgender sizing system & To The Moon Boutique. Beautiful models, great audience and it was all documented by a volunteer photographer Dee and a short film by Aphra a filmmaker. 

Meetups in the evening were really well attended with fantastic representation. Between our original sponsors the Gin Palace & the nearby BBB it was a lovely night of the community getting together and socialising in such large numbers. Really warm and interactive evening.

Last part of the main day was the Transcendance afterparty which was supported by Bristol Pride. The community and allies partied into the early hours at The Old Market Assembly with a variety of genres from the minds of live DJs ElectroNic, Mr Morgan & PsychaDeLex. From what I can tell we had a lot of fun and was a positive end to a great day!

Sunday was cold but 60 people made it out to Dutch in Old Market where we were blessed by the presnce of the cartoonist and public speaker Sophie Labelle of Assigned Male webcomics. Such a lovely person with an amazing talent and it was a great Q&A session, signing, photo opportunity for all attendees.

The evening saw Ginny Lemon live at the Gin Palace. As usual a fabulous performance and fun end to the whole weekend!

2016

Our first year was an overall success. Run over 4 days and exhausting for the team involved it was worth it to see so many people supporting the diversity in our community. It began with a private cinema showing of Real Boy and closed with the Old Market area with cabaret and disco.

There was a fashion show of Kraken of London at To the Moon, Workshops, Films, Cabaret, Shops, Transcafe,  in Old Market area and stalls and information and community advice at the Trinity centre on the final day.

Thanks are owed to the Henry (Ran Youth workshops over 2 days and it was a resounding success!), OutBristol, Jo and the Gin Palace, BBB, Queervision, To The Moon, Kraken Counter Couture and to our fundraisers with Don’t Tell Your Mother, Queenshilling, Mandalyns.

Also to any who promoted our events and to all of those who ventured out to attend our starting point! <3