Going for a piss in a port-a-loo shouldn’t be a radical act, especially not when caked in mud and in your best wellie boots, but here we are. It’s 2025 and on the 27th of May, Download Festival released a statement that it would be following the EHRC Guidelines following the Supreme Court Decision, which mis-genders trans people and polices who can use which bathroom based on which genitals they were born with.
After receiving public backlash from festival fans and trans artists alike, the festival was quick to apologise for the confusion caused by their original statement, explaining that the majority of toilets at the site will be gender neutral. If you’ve been left scratching your head, albeit rather angrily, you’re not alone.
Artist NOAHFINNCE was quick to call into question the decision of the Donnington Park festival, stating: “I had a great time playing last year, but will not be attending again if I have to queue up for the ladies’ bathroom and my trans sisters have to risk outing themselves in the men’s bathroom. All this does is put trans people in danger.”
The ripples of despondency felt at Download’s lack of allyship with the trans community have caused people like Bean Sharp, activist and member of the Manchester Trans Liberation Assembly, to feel disappointed and angry.
“I feel deeply disappointed. I first attended Download as a teenager, it was one of the first festivals I went to,” they tell GAY TIMES. “Seeing the diversity of people who go to Download was amazing, but even more amazing was the sense of love and support. I found a community there that I’d never experienced before. Download’s statement feels like a betrayal of that community, which I have always known to be welcoming and inclusive regardless of gender or sexuality.”
Nevertheless, Download Festival insist that they “stood with the community” and “wanted everyone to feel safe”, despite not refuting their previous pledge to follow the EHRC guidance. And herein lies the problem.
We stand with all members of our community and want everyone to feel safe, supported and welcome at Download pic.twitter.com/TSMIhZFLJZ
— Download Festival (@DownloadFest) May 28, 2025
The festival seems to have brushed off its part in the harmfulness of people policing sex-at-birth-based bathroom use based on its gender neutral toilet provision. However, this still doesn’t spell safety for trans, non-binary and cis women looking to pee in peace, and raises questions about the festival’s toilet policy and allyship.
“It’s insulting that Download thinks that is an adequate answer to trans, non-binary, intersex and gender non-conforming people’s concerns and complaints about their statement.” Says Sharp, who explains that what they and the community are asking for is a commitment to refuse to gender police single-sex facilities, and a sexual harassment and safety policy that focuses on harmful behaviour, not painting trans women as predators.
People policing, a term that describes leaving the public to police one another’s behaviour, leads to vigilantism that directly impacts trans people’s physical and emotional safety, and sends cultural shrapnel in the direction of those with gender non-conforming expressions of identity, and those who don’t adhere to ‘traditional’ expressions of femininity or masculinity.
More and more often, we’re seeing that cis women are being kicked out of bathrooms and being asked by cis male security guards and members of the public to ‘prove’ their gender by dropping their kecks to show their genitals. Tall cis-women, butch lesbians and self-titled dykes are also finding themselves in the firing line.
Jude Guaitamacchi, an award-winning speaker and campaigner for trans rights, told GAY TIMES that Download Festival’s recent statement not only failed to recognise the transgender community, “it actively excluded us.”
Guaitamacchi added that the statement lacked mention of trans people and had failed to acknowledge the harm caused by referencing the transphobic EHRC interim guidance, which has already been widely condemned by human rights organisations.
“This guidance misgenders trans people and paves the way for policies that put us at even greater risk. Including it without critique is not neutral; it’s taking a side.” They said, reminding us that there is “no neutrality in a human rights crisis” and that Download’s second statement lacked clarity on whether or not they were scrapping the harmful policy. “It just isn’t good enough”.
Another area of concern raised by Guaitamacchi was the silence from many of the artists performing at Download this year. “At a time when trans communities are being relentlessly targeted, a lack of vocal, unwavering support from public figures and performers is complicity. If you’re not standing with us, you are standing by while harm is being done.”
These sentiments are shared by many, and since the release of this second statement on 28 May 2025, prominent creators on TikTok and Instagram have spoken about their miscontent.
Download enthusiast and TikTok personality @That.One.Edgy.Kid, or ‘Edgy’ as they’re known online, released a statement to TikTok and Instagram telling their 600+ thousand followers (combined) that despite their love of the festival, the music and the community they’ve found, unless Download are willing cop to getting it totally wrong and do better, they will no longer support the festival.
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Speaking to GAY TIMES, Edgy explained that for the festival to restore trust and alliances with the LGBTQIA+ community, they would have to do three things;
“In my opinion, firstly, we would need an apology for this, the upset this has caused to the trans community can’t go unmentioned. Download needs to acknowledge the harm this has caused already; we’ve already seen countless transphobic remarks made online following this.
Secondly, I think they need to clearly state that trans men/women will be officially allowed to use the men’s/women’s toilets, not just a reiteration of the point that they have gender neutral toilets.
And thirdly, at this point, we also need an explanation for why that initial email was sent in the first place. They can’t just brush over this, they need to be completely transparent with how this has played out on their end.”
GAY TIMES reached out to Download Festival for further comment but has not received a response.
