trans pride manchester

akt is proud to have attended Manchester Trans Pride and Manchester Pride this August.

Manchester Pride

This year, The Manchester Pride Rally was hosted by Sparkle, the National Transgender Charity. At the event, akt gave a speech on the Pride Stage in Sackville Gardens to raise awareness about issues faced by Trans Youth.

akt took the stage alongside other change makers in Manchester’s Trans+ Community, including Lucky Roy Singh and Annie Wallace. 

akt’s speech, which was delivered by two of our support workers from The Trans Pathway Project, focused on the specific barriers Trans+ youth experience when facing homelessness.

The speech emphasised how access to safe housing is an urgent issue for trans young people. Over half the young people who came to akt for support last year were trans and non-binary. Many of these young people had experienced rough sleeping, sofa surfing or had fled abusive relationships prior to referral.

As well as uplifting the barriers trans+ youth face to access safe housing, akt’s speech shared how our services are working with young people to change their stories, including our our one-of-a-kind Trans Pathway Project, a 3 year pilot project funded by St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity. The Trans Pathway Project provides support to 18-25 year old Trans+ and Non-Binary people in Greater Manchester who are facing homelessness. 

According to the National Office of Statistics, in the last 12 months rent in Manchester has risen by more than 12%. The Trans Pathway Project is catered specifically towards trans+ young people in Greater Manchester who have been made, or are facing homeless, due to transphobia. akt is currently the only charity to offer a highly specialised support service of this sort in the area.

Manchester Trans Pride

akt was joined by young people from the Trans Pathway Youth Engagement Group at Manchester Trans Pride on Saturday the 3rd of August. The atmosphere was fantastic and the group attended speeches from local campaigners and creatives from the Trans+ community, followed by a march through Manchester centre.

The young people who took part in this event alongside akt expressed to us how important it was for them to attend. Many said it was either their first ever Pride event or the first one they have been to since they came out as Trans.

If you’re an LGBT+ young person worried about your housing situation please reach out to us, you can do that via the live chat box on our website. Please know that you are important, and that support is out here.