Pride organiser invites PM to event after speech

The founder of a Pride event said she felt "shocked" by the prime minister's comments on transgender people.

During his speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak said: "We shouldn't get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be, they can't, a man is a man and a woman is a woman, that's just common sense."

Kathryn Downs, who began her transition in 2009 and was formerly the mayor of Hednesford, said she was "disappointed and very depressed" by the comments.

She invited the PM to attend her event to "experience what the transgender community is about".

Rishi Sunak made the comments during his speech at the Conservative Party Conference

Ms Downs started her transition in 2009 before she became mayor of the Staffordshire town in 2019 and 2021.

Early in her transition, she said she had faced "hatred and prejudice on a daily basis" and feared the "transgender community being used as a political tool".

Ms Downs, who founded Chase Pride in 2022, said: "I'd love nothing more than to get to Rishi there.

"He needs to come along and talk to the community and experience what Pride is about, but also what the transgender community is about.

"We have a lot of transgender people attend Chase Pride.

"We have a lot of families, and young people attend Chase Pride, and I think he would really benefit from coming along and spending some time immersed in the environment and learning from all of those people and speaking with them."