Gay Pride in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire Gears Up for County Gay Pride
 

Organisers are this week putting the finishing touches to Gloucestershire Pride 2008 – the only gay Pride in the West Country, which is being held in Gloucester on Saturday August 9.  It is a free event – there is no admission charge.

There is already much interest in the event from across the country – and from Birmingham, Worcester and Bristol.

“Everything has gone smoothly and we are confident that a great day is in store for visitors,” said Paula, the organising committee’s chairperson.

“We are a very small Pride, when compared with the big three of London, Brighton and Manchester, but we like to think that we have a big heart and can produce a good day out for everyone, regardless of sexuality.”

She pointed out that Gloucestershire Pride was not an event solely for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

“Everyone is welcome to take part, whether joining us on the march celebrating the diversity of the county through Gloucester City Centre or for our event at Llanthony Priory,” she said.

With laws in place that give LGBT people rights and equality, why is there a need for a Gay Pride?

The simple answer is that the hearts and minds of all local people have not yet been won over.

The fact that homophobia is still alive and well in the county was recently brought home to members of the Pride organising committee. 

At a Pride meeting, held in Water Poets bar in Gloucester in June, a man walked up to the meeting and asked the chairperson:  “Are you a man or a woman?”  He then continued to pass uncomplimentary remarks.

Then a few weeks later, another committee member witnessed an incident in Gloucester’s Barton Street where a young gay Polish man was addressed as “batty-boy” and threatened in the street.

Gay men and women throughout Gloucestershire continue to suffer from ‘homophobic bullying’, with much of it going unreported.

It is thought that it is in the rural areas that the problems are worse, with gays ‘suffering in silence’.

In most cases, victims are scared to go the police and report what is a hate crime.

Support groups like Gay-Glos and the Gloucestershire Gay & Lesbian Community, together with the Gloucestershire Police, all say that relatively few cases are reported.

Reported cases are taken seriously by the police.  Last December, a county gay man received an ‘anonymous’ email that denounced homosexuality as anti-Christian and told the victim of the hope “… that all gays and lesbians were killed off by aids.  […] I hope the lot of you die a painful death”.

Gloucestershire Police, with the help of Hampshire Police, traced the sender, and appropriate action was taken.

“These are just three cases that show why a Pride is needed in Gloucestershire,” said Tony, a co-founder of Gloucestershire Pride and committee member.

“It is one day in the year when the entire community – straight and gay – can come together and make a strong statement that it is OK to be gay in the twenty-first century.”

But he added that there were many gays in Gloucestershire who were still “too scared to take part in the march for fear of being recognised”.

Many, he said were still very much in the closet as they were afraid that by ‘coming out’ would result in some form of bullying.

Gloucestershire Pride gets underway on Saturday (August 9) at 1pm outside the Shire Hall in Westgate Street, Gloucester with a short rally, with a County Council cabinet member giving a short address.

Participants will then march to Llanthony Secunda Priory, adjacent to Gloucestershire College, via The Cross, Southgate Street and Severn Road.

An afternoon ‘event’ will be held in the Priory grounds until about 5.30pm.

Among those appearing on the stage during the afternoon will be the local bands The Bag, Bridget and the Big Girls Blues and Way Out West, who are expected to debut their new ‘bluegrass version’ of “It’s Raining Men”.  Among the others appearing during the afternoon will be singer Jamie Watson, who has enjoyed chart success in UK and Australia, and the winner of Swindon Pride Idol, Stevie Maull.

Organisers are hoping that it doesn’t rain real rain – last year’s torrential July rain and subsequent flooding led to the cancellation of all outdoor Pride events.

About 40 information stalls, ranging from the Terrence Higgins Trust and trade unions to local LGBT groups and government/local government services, have booked space.  There will also be around ten commercial ‘market place’ stalls.  If all turn up on the day, it will be bigger, in terms of stalls, than Birmingham Pride.

■ Gloucestershire Pride is the only Gay Pride on the ‘M5 corridor’ between Birmingham and Plymouth.

■ 2008 is the 30^th anniversary of the now internationally-recognised “Rainbow Flag”.  Designed by Gilbert Baker, it was first seen at what is now San Francisco Gay Pride in June 1978.  The Rainbow Flag will be flying at the Shire Hall in Gloucester and at the City Council’s North Warehouse on Saturday August 9.

■ Major supporters/sponsors of Gloucestershire Pride are Gloucester City Council, Gloucestershire County Council, Gloucestershire Constabulary, EXS Nightclub in Cheltenham, Fyne Times, G3 Magazine, Gloucestershire College, Unison, TUC South West and UK Gay News.

■ Gloucestershire Pride 2008 operates on a budget of just under £2,000 – one of the smallest budgets of any Gay Pride in the United Kingdom.  All stage performers are giving their services – and all asked the organising committee if they could perform.

■ Gloucestershire Pride 2009 is due to be held in Cheltenham on Saturday August 8, with Gloucester hosting again in 2010.