Over the weekend, Pride In London’s parade was interrupted by a protest group, Get The L Out. Who are they and what do they stand for?
Get The L Out is a fringe lesbian and feminist protest group which previously called for transgender people to be removed from the LGBT acronym. The petition was ultimately unsuccessful and now they are petitioning to have the “L” removed from LGBT+. The petition was signed by just 310 people. They say that lesbians are being “silenced and threatened” and claim that all women and girls are “at risk” and their interests are taking a backseat to the transgender community.
Over the weekend around eight to ten women stopped the Pride In London march and lay on the ground after being asked by organisers to move on. When they wouldn’t organisers decided to allow the group to march but at the front, well ahead of the official starting line of the parade, leaving enough gap as to ensure that the group would not be legitimised by walking behind the rainbow flag.
The group also makes the claim that publications slur lesbians by using the word “terf” and “cis”.
Terf stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Cisgendered people are those whose outward gender expression matches the sex they were assigned at birth by their parents and medical professions.
Anti-trans?
The protest was strongly condemned by Pride In London who said that the group had shown “a level of bigotry, ignorance and hate that is unacceptable”. They also said that the group was not a registered parade group. The statement also went on to say that Pride In London “reject what this group stands for. They do not share our values, which are about inclusion and respect and support for the most marginalised parts of our community”.
GTLO says that they,”believe that lesbian rights are under attack by the trans movement and we encourage lesbians everywhere to leave the LGBT and form their own independent movement, as well as to be vocal and take action against the proposed changes to the General Recognition Act”.
