Huge protest at Downing Street demands Tory government stop attacking LGBTQ+ rights

LGBTQ+ rights protesters, including Labour MP Kate Osborne and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall, flocked to Downing Street for a protest in place of the government’s cancelled LGBTQ+ conference.

Activists flocked to London for a protest in place of the Tory government’s flagship Safe To Be Me: A Global Equalities Conference, which was billed as the “first-ever global LGBT conference”.

The event was left in tatters amid backlash against the government’s U-turn on a trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban, and it was ultimately cancelled in April.

LGBTQ+ advocates, allies and activist groups descended on the capital on Wednesday afternoon (29 June), the day the conference was set to start, for their own Not Safe To Be Me protest.

The demonstrators proudly waved trans Pride flags, wore a mash of kaleidoscopic colours and held up searing signs laying bare how the Tories failed the LGBTQ+ community. 

#NotSafeToBeMe at Downing Street pic.twitter.com/UH5FU1iUFx

— Trans Activism UK (@TransActivismUK) June 29, 2022

A fantastic turnout at the #NotSafeToBeMe protest. The government has no justification allowing trans people to not be protected from abhorrent conversion practices.

They must #BanConversionTherapy for everyone. There is no excuse for abuse.@TransActivismUK @GEOgovuk pic.twitter.com/ivrjeq9th4

— BanConversionTherapy (@BanCTorg) June 29, 2022