London Protest for Trans Rights: Shouting, Threats and Vandalism

There was a protest in London Saturday against the recent UK Court decision which concluded that trans women are not in fact the same as biological women under the law. Organizers are claiming 20,000 people attended but as usual that number is likely inflated inflated. But it’s fair to say there were several thousand people.

Thousands of trans activists and leftists gathered in London on April 19 outside the UK Supreme Court to protest the ruling that trans women are not women and that sex is biological according to the Equality Act. Video by @actualcoverage: pic.twitter.com/SzKmvlKgEN

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) April 19, 2025

From the AP’s curiously bland story about the protests:

Thousands of trans rights protesters gathered in central London on Saturday, days after the U.K.’s Supreme Court ruled that a woman is someone born biologically female and that transgender women are excluded from that legal definition.

With unease growing over what the ruling means for the rights of transgender people, protesters came together for what was billed as an “emergency demonstration” in Parliament Square. Activists demanded “trans liberation” and “trans rights now,” with some waving flags and holding banners…

The Supreme Court said that using a certificate to interpret someone’s sex would clash with definitions of man and woman and, therefore, the anti-discrimination provisions of the 2010 Equality Act could “only be interpreted as referring to biological sex.”

The AP left out anything that the average reader might find extreme or objectionable. For instance, some of the signage was pretty out there.

From the protest in London yesterday pic.twitter.com/fQv6VF0JfQ

— cheeze💥 (@cheeze_toastie) April 20, 2025

Richard Dawkins noticed:

Aggressively dominant male mammals typically urinate to scent-mark their territory.

“I’ll piss where I like.” “I❤️pissin’ on TERFs.”

They think they’re women. But can you imagine a better walking, talking, reeking advertisement for toxic masculinity? #SexMatters pic.twitter.com/CCFUxjjkJc

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) April 21, 2025

The Daily Mail on the other hand did not shy away from mentioning the extremism.

One sign at the protest in London‘s Parliament Square showed an illustration of hangman alongside the slogan ‘The only good TERF is a [hanged] TERF.’ 

Meanwhile, another sign showed an image of a man with a bloodied knife stuck in his eye, alongside the caption: ‘Are you a… transphobe? Why not try a… D.I.Y. LOBOTOMY.’

 A third graphic sign read: ‘Trans women are women. Trans men are men. If you don’t like that, go s*** somewhere else.’ Examples on the sign of where to do that included ‘on a pile of Harry Potter books’ or ‘on the head of another TERF’. 

And of course there was a lot of anger directed at JK Rowling.

Trans activists chant “Fuck J.K. Rowling!” during protest after UK Supreme Court ruling on definition of a woman.

Parliament Square, London on 19th April 2025@jk_rowling pic.twitter.com/SoNzGdUmYq

— Actual Coverage (@actualcoverage) April 19, 2025

Rowling herself shrugged it off.

Only a thousand? #disappointed pic.twitter.com/HYd1ZFXQkY

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 20, 2025

There was also some vandalism aimed at seven of the 12 statues placed around Parliament Square:

A Nelson Mandela statue was one of seven vandalised by trans rights activists protesting against the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a woman.

Sculptures of Sir Robert Peel, Benjamin Disraeli and the suffragist Millicent Fawcett were also defaced by protesters during the Parliament Square rally on Saturday, police said…

The statue of Fawcett, a prominent campaigner for women’s rights in the 19th century, was daubed with graffiti reading “f– rights”….

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said: “Criminal damage like this, including to statues of men and women who fought for freedom and justice like Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Millicent Fawcett, is disgraceful. It is right that the police are investigating.

No arrests were made and my guess is none will be. Finally, this bearded person complaining about being misgendered sort of sums up this protest for me.

Disabled Tans Woman speaks about being misgendered by Transport For London.

After complaining, “They continued to misgender me..”

This was at the Tran protest held in Central London on 19th April 2025@TfL pic.twitter.com/9sBspRYzRU

— Actual Coverage (@actualcoverage) April 20, 2025

If some guy wants to pretend he’s a woman that’s up to him, but the rest of society shouldn’t be legally required to bend over backwards to support his feelings of self-expression, certainly not when it comes to prisons or sports or being in bathrooms with little girls. Biological sex still has a meaning and single-sex spaces do too.