Hundreds gather in support of trans community, vastly outnumbering Posie Parker Dublin event

LGBTQ+ people and allies gathered in huge numbers last Saturday in Dublin to protest against the anti-trans rally hosted by Posie Parker.

Community . Written by Beatrice Fanucci.

Trans activists protesting in Dublin during a Posie Parker event, with people holding banners and waving Pride and trans flags, shouting and chanting.

Hundreds of trans people and allies came together in Dublin on Saturday, September 16, to protest against a rally featuring Posie Parker, a self-described “women’s rights activist” who has been criticised for her anti-trans views. The counter-demonstration organised by Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin saw a massive turnout, with members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies vastly outnumbering the other side.

Posie Parker, also known as Kellie-Jay Keen, is a British speaker who holds rallies in cities worldwide expressing anti-trans, anti-abortion, and misogynistic views. On Saturday, she held an event in Merrion Square in Dublin as part of her “Let Women Speak” tour.

In response to the event hosted by Parker, Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin organised a counter-demonstration with the goal of protesting “in joy and resistance against transphobia and fascism in all its forms”. Showing solidarity with the trans community in Ireland, a huge crowd gathered outside the Dáil before marching to Merrion Square, where the anti-trans rally was taking place.

Before starting to move towards the opposing rally, leading trans activist Jenny Maguire addressed the crowd, saying: “We as queer people are forced into a world that’s not meant for us.

“We do everything we can to force a world that accepts us and that can love us all unapologetically, and it is them that wants to reverse any progress we’ve made so far and pull us back into the Dark Ages,” she continued. “Trans people aren’t going anywhere.”

 

At Merrion Square, a large Garda presence was visible and metal barriers were erected to separate the protesters from people attending the rally. The trans activists and allies chanted and played loud music to drown out speakers at the Posie Parker event. For the entire duration of the rally, the crowd supporting trans rights continued to shout chants such as “There’s more of us than you” and “Trans rights, women’s rights. Same struggle, same fight”.

On the opposite side of the barriers, the anti-trans rally was attended by a small number of people, with a portion of them having flown in from the UK, as reports state. Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, who was previously banned from Twitter for “hateful conduct” and has repeatedly expressed anti-trans views, was also present at the event and allegedly stated that Ireland needs “to reverse self identification” for legal gender recognition.

 

Also in attendance were several representatives of anti-trans group The Countess and anti-immigration figure Philip Dwyer.

According to past reports, some of the rallies hosted by Posie Parker have also been attended by white supremacist groups, as her campaign provided a platform for these people to spread their hateful rhetoric. Earlier this year, at one of her events in Australia, white supremacist groups took the streets performing Nazi salutes.

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter) after the rally and protest ended, Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin stated: “Thank you to every single one of you for making yesterday so special. Not only did we drown them out, but we delivered a massive message to all: Dublin supports trans rights.”

 

Another X user commented on the huge turnout at the counter-protest, saying: “Joy, noise, hugs, songs, and the absolute best people in the entire country all together on a wet Saturday afternoon to show what love and community look like.”

“It’s important to hear Irish citizens speak. They are defending the Republic against English Fascists,” someone else wrote. “Colonialism & far right authoritarianism have had their day. Irish people have the freedom to live & love now & forever.”

 

 

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