Thousands of trans rights supporters gather in London following UK ruling over definition of woman

It's a Pandora's box situation where I just think we allow certain things and then we essentially opened up the door to allow way more than we ever thought could be accepted or pushed through."

Zuleha Oshodi, 29, weighed in on the issue

It's a terrifying time to have your rights taken away from you,

said 19-year-old transgender woman Sophie Gibbs

It's a terrifying time to have your rights taken away from you. I was disappointed to think that we could live in a society that seems so progressive now but is willing to make such a dangerous and harmful ruling."

Sophie Gibbs, 19-year-old transgender woman, told the Associated Press

J. K. Rowlingauthor

It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they've protected the rights of women and girls across the UK."

Rowling celebrated the decision, posting on X, formerly Twitter

Trans people have been cynically targeted and demonized by politicians and large parts of the media for far too long."

She added

A victory for all of the women who faced personal abuse or lost their jobs for stating the obvious,

She added ... she added

My main fear -- the extremists will feel empowered by this decision,

said Eevee Zayas, a 32-year-old researcher from Spain, describing themself as non-binary transgender

Hate crimes against (the) trans community (will) go up,

Zayas added

When trans rights are under attack, what do we do? Fight back."

Speakers addressed the crowd using megaphones, and led the demonstrators in chants that included

We're pointing fingers at people who aren't harming anybody, such as trans people, while ignoring the real problems,

she said

There are a lot of British transport police under investigation for sexual harassment as it is and this opens up the opportunity for them to say ‘you’re getting searched by a male because I believe you’re trans’ and they’re protected by law to do that,

Atkinson said

It’s one hell of a turnout and there is a really strong sense of unity and solidarity,

said Jamie Strudwick, one of the organisers

As we were coming along, I started smiling and I said to them [Watt and her friends] ‘wow look at everybody’. What you can count on in this community is that people will rally round.”

Atkinson added

In the last week, I’ve had to respond to four suicide attempts or threats from young people,

said Oscar Hoyle, who founded Blossom LGBT community interest company in 2018.

My first reaction to the ruling was absolute horror,

Watt said

Regardless of where you sit in this conversation, nobody should be in a position where they feel like life isn’t worth living just because they fall within a marginalised group,

Hoyle said

Most people disregard the young,

said Dani, who was there representing her trans sister

When they instituted the bathroom bans there, you saw that it wasn’t just trans people, it was also cis people getting accused and being forced out,

one said

You can't legislate us out of existence

Thousands of protesters have descended on Parliament

We have come out today to pressure the government and the public to stand with the trans community, as right now all across country there are lots of very scared trans people, because the implications of this ruling could be massive.”

Speaking of her reasons for travelling to the capital to protest, she said