I think it may be hard for people to realise that in Brighton and Hove in this day and age there are still lots of young people who feel completely and utterly isolated.
For those young people to get together and march with their Allsorts friends and participate in the parade and walk through the packed streets of Brighton, it is one of the most amazing experiences that they have ever had. That seems to me to be the power of pride. It still has the capacity to touch and liberate individuals. No matter how much better laws are now in the UK, homophobia transphobia and biphobia are still blighting so many lives. Pride is this massive boost for our cause. Like a giant wave, it’s sweeps away prejudice, discrimination, and hatred. And it does it in techocolour, with humour, verve and zest.
The staff team and volunteers always find the parade incredibly moving. It strengthens us. And seeing the young people so empowered and exuberant, is wonderful and it helps us all to rededicate ourselves to the work of building and supporting our LGBT communities.
From all us, a very big thank you to Pride. I am sure you do realise how much it means to us all. In recent years when things have gone a bit wrong, it has been really hard to know what to do. Now Pride seems to be in very good hands again. This is a really marvellous thing.
The scale of putting on something like Pride must be so daunting each year. That you have managed to make a surplus that you can give to the community groups is incredible. At the Rainbow Fund event, you guys were even saying that you are going to trying to try make more money for the communities. I just want to say that that is a wonderful thing but even if you were not to make any money for the communities, Pride still does something for all of us that is priceless.
So please don’t measure the success of pride by how much money you can raise for the communities. In my view, the success of pride is what it does for us all. The solidarity. The fantastic, fun spectacle. The serious message that underlies it all. Last year hi lighting support about the experiences in the rest of the world was awesome.
I know that as soon as one pride is finished, you guys have to get on with organising the next one. So we wish you well for your planning for Pride 2014. Please do let us know if there’s anything we can do to support those efforts.
So please could you pass on our huge thanks to the whole Pride Team for taking on this huge burden and responsibility, for doing it so brilliantly, and for making such a difference to all of us each year.
Jess Woods
Allsorts Youth project
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