Pride 2017

Glad you had a good day. It was a perfect day for it.
Phantom hit the nail on the head about getting caught up in the atmosphere of celebration.
The message shouldnt get lost as there are still barriers out there but celebration of where we are now as a tolerant society is a wonderful thing

There's lots of positive things I could say, but my major gripe with this was how it felt like 90% of parade sections were multi-national companies. I want to see all the people, all the communities, projects, not CitiGroup.

It crosses my my mind every time.

Whilst I think it's great that attitude have changed so much and that so much progress has been made and that (generally speaking) so much positive progress has been made on all levels, the reality is that for a certain demographic the concept of homosexuality is completely abhorrent and unacceptable.

Whilst I personally don't have a problem with it, their negative opinions tap into their upbringing, morals and values and whilst they may be in the minority, their opinions have to be respected.

So, given the society we live in now with the ever-threat of terrorism, whilst people with these opinions are around, the threat is ever present and real.

Speaking from personal experience, my Father is one of these people and quite frankly, regardless how much logic is used, his attitude will never change. And this attitude will die with him, despite the fact that one of his cousins is in a lesbian relationship, the fact that his cousin's daughter is a lesbian and that my cousin's son is bisexual.

Not that I'm suggesting that Dad would every do such a thing, but he makes snipe and underhanded comments all the time.

And you're going to always have religious zealots pontificating, who's options too should be respected.

So, given this, thank God that it all wen't off well as it was intended so it was safe for all those taking part in the parade and for those watching.

While I have no objection to these parades I do feel more thought should be given to people who are trying to get somewhere to cross the route. I was trying to get to Wyndham's yesterday and thought the best way to cross would be to use the underground as a crossing but Piccadilly Circus was closed and I had to walk quite a bit further than I needed to down to Charing Cross at Trafalgar Square where I was able to cross. I got there with 5 minutes to spare. I suppose it's my own fault for not taking more notice of the times and route but when you don't live in London you don't always realise how these things are going to affect you. There were plenty of "crossing places" but these couldn't be used once the parade was in place. Why can't the parade be stopped occasionally to allow people to cross the road?

haha oh dear that reminds me of about 10 years ago, when I still lived in London I met an old school friend and two of her friends who were down for a conference or some such, in Covent Garden. The others were from The Valleys (capital needed) and didn't generally leave there much. When I was leaving they asked if I had far to go or similar. I commented "Oh no I'll just cut through Soho it won't take long" to which one replied "Soho is that...where the GAYS are?"

I can understand that. However the costs for the events this year come to £900k. I would much rather have sponsors than make people pay to attend.

The parade lasted five hours. Yes there were a lot of businesses there but all represented by their workforce who were there because they wanted to celebrate their Pride and their journeys. There were also many, many communities represented. 26500 people paraded over those 5 hours. All credit to those people and the volunteers who were involved in ensuring the parade firmed up correctly and those on the route who had to contend with all that!

I do think Pride is an odd one. As with all gay events/bars/clubs/whatever it is extremely intimidating. It's a celebration for some but not all.

I can only speak for myself as a gay man, so please don't read what I say and assume I'm ignoring the LBTQ people; I just don't want to speak on behalf of any other section of society of which I have no personal experience.

I went to Pride last year and there was so much mocking of certain body types etc. It's meant to be an inclusive day but it feels anything but. Good for you if you're on a float or a bus or have learnt a dance routine for the occasion, but how are you reaching out to the scared teenager behind the physical barrier between you? Aimlessly throwing famously-branded products superimposed on a rainbow flag is utterly pointless.

Pride is meant to be a celebration and there will be people who benefit from it, no doubt. I just think it needs to be refocused to encourage people who are scared/intimidated by it.

I think the gay 'community' (it feels less like an actual community than ever before) needs to have a long hard look at itself. There are tonnes of gay teenagers who will see highlights of Pride on telly and not see themselves represented (by the flamboyant costumes and showing off) and feel more and more isolated. If people are fully secure in their sexuality then that's brilliant and we should celebrate it, but because we are in such a fortunate position we should use it to help those who are not (as with most things in life).

Pride is one day a year, but there is still so much not to be proud of; we need to focus on that, 365 days a year.

I didn't go to the parade as we were meeting friends and personally apart from when I've walked in it I find the parade a chore to watch though London is at least a lot better then Sydney or San Francisco which are endless and utterly dull. Though five hours sounds longer than it used to be!?

I actually think London is one of the more democratic pride Celebrations of the big cities. In the old days the park events catered to a range of music and community tents and now the party in the street - if you can cope with the crowds - is open to all and basically every bar, coffee shop, restaurant and pub in the surrounding streets becomes a venue. Compared to the Sydney - giant party costing a fortune with four different arenas, everyone playing the same music and topless muscle boys everywhere you go. London at least you can lurk on the sidelines and work up the courage to join in without much risk. San Francisco is similar though slightly better as the Castro is better suited to have people partying in the streets - I went there on my own one year as an under confident guy in my early 20's and ended up being cheered by the crowd as I had a three way snog in the middle of the street!

Interestingly my Husband, who is Australian, made a point of how much more friendly officialdom is in London compared to Sydney. He was pleasantly surprised that the para medics and particularly the Police had rainbow flags on their faces and uniforms - thought this wouldn't happen in Australia where the police have a much worse record with the gay community.

Yes it could be more inclusive though personally I feel the gay community is better than it used to be with body types, ok that's partly because we've started fetishizing more body types than just muscle but it has moved on from the 1990's when it was a much bigger problem.

The media may focus on the flamboyant costumes but there are plenty of people there that aren't like that. I had a good view of the whole of Old Compton Street and the whole of human life was there and people walking in the parade are from a variety of backgrounds, shapes, ages and sizes. I don't know how you get the media to cover that in the two minutes on the TV news or one column in the newspaper it normally gets.

haha that bit sounds awesome (even if I am scared of balloons...yes it's weird...)

And yeah, Soho has never felt like a male space. There's what 2 'Lesbian bars' not that I personally feel we need segregated bars/spaces but just that it can sometimes feel SO male oriented elsewhere. Also there's the problem of women not being allowed in 'gay bars' for 'not looking gay' (ie Butch in the case of girls) doesn't happen often but it happens....


ANYWAY that really is the end of my rant (for now)

ooh you know I've no idea! I personally hate bars/clubs but I do know that the ones in Cardiff are generally more 'inclusive' and laid back. But it's a frustrating state of affairs in general I think.
I'll stick to being a hermit

On Saturday while walking through London on my way to the Palladium I fell in love with a pair of very skimpy shorts. They were striped, all the colours of the rainbow & totally sequins. How I wished I could turn back time to my days of wearing "hot pants" but even when I was young & thin I don't think I would have have fitted into them - the young man wearing them was so skinny. I'm not gay but they were absolutely gorgeous.

Great post and I am not going to challenge it, as it feels it comes from a personal perspective. However I would like to offer, doing nothing will not change the other 365 days of the year, doing something might and having an event like PRIDE and I take on board it's very flamboyant, so not everyone cup of teas, but an event like this will challenge and hopefully change peoples' perspective, so that will help the 'scared teenager' in his bedroom, not directly, also this could help him/her to engage in 'help'*, by what I mean speak to a responsible person or may offer solutions to his/her fear. The PRIDE website can and should address this, as no doubt, many gay and lesbians have been in the same confused and scared boat.

*Help I mean for his fear, not his/her sexuality.