Statement from Warwickshire Pride’s Board of Trustees

Trigger warning for transphobia, self-harm.

Earlier this year, a decision was made to not allow Spa Sisters to have a stall at the Warwickshire Pride festival or participate in the Warwickshire Pride March.

The decision was made due to members of Spa Sisters and its leadership posting transphobic hate, including labelling trans people as:

• “males in bulging shorts”
• “heterosexual men with a GRC”
• “fetishists”
• “men claiming to be ‘women'”
• “a social contagion, like cutting or anorexia”

Many of Spa Sisters’ own members reported the transphobia to us due to feeling unsafe.

We have not banned anyone from attending the Warwickshire Pride festival, but have not given a group, who breached our code of conduct regarding hate speech, a platform at this year’s event.

We strongly encourage all people to challenge transphobia wherever they encounter it.

No further comment will be made on this matter.