Rainbow Toffees are the official LGBTQ+ supporters group for Everton Football Club.

They promote inclusion and diversity within football by raising awareness and regularly organise meetups.

Last month, the UK Supreme Court ruled the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

Rainbow Toffees are dedicating their next monthly event to the transgender community on 30th May at 12-3pm at Boxpark Liverpool, with a live singer and two guest speakers.

They also attended a trans rights protest at St George’s Hall in Liverpool.

Merseysportlive spoke to Rainbow Toffees founder Paul Hession about the importance of speaking out for the transgender community:

“It’s giving them a platform to be able to speak and be themselves and feel comfortable in that space.

“We’ve also got a buddying scheme, because we’ve got a lot of trans fans who don’t feel comfortable going the match by themselves. So we’ll buddy up with them and go the game.”

He also spoke about the support they’ve received from Everton legend Neville Southall and journalist India Willoughby:

“Neville’s been our patron now for a good few years and he’s quite vocal on all his social media platforms. Which we love because he’s got that platform. With the trans community getting in the neck at the minute; with him being quite vocal and out there it gives them a voice, which they probably wouldn’t have.

“We’ve also taken on trans activist India Willoughby, as another one of our ambassadors. So we’ve got two ambassadors at the moment for Rainbow Toffees.”

You can keep updated with Rainbow Toffees’ events on their Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.

(Feature image by courtesy of Paul Hession)