Homophobia is commonly accepted as an inevitable part of society, much like there is acceptance of continued racism.
It is human nature to have hate as much as it is to love! Over the years I’ve suffered from verbal attacks; when I lived in Kemp Town an old man once told me I was a “queer bastard” as I passed him by. When I lived in Uxbridge it was so frequent for me to have all names under the sun thrown at me; I’ve been lucky not to suffer physical abuse.
This year there been many reported attacks on people in Brighton because of their sexuality.
We have witnessed the mass shooting in a gay nightclub in Orlando, where 49 people were killed and 53 injured.
ISIS threw an accused gay man off a building roof which they claimed was implementing the true meaning of the Shariah Law.
We live in a time where it is still illegal to be gay in 77 countries, in 12 of those countries gay people can face the death penalty.
We have come so far in the United Kingdom, there was a time that it was illegal to be gay, and it is only recent history that we have witnessed so many changes.
30-40 years ago it wasn’t safe to walk the streets as openly gay; we have seen Section 28 of the local Government Act of 1998 opposed, we have seen the change of attitude by the media towards the gay community.
We can now marry, and have the same rights as anybody else in the United Kingdom.
Yet there is still hate, and yes there will always be hate, we are all guilty of having a little hate ourselves, reminds me of my favourite song from Avenue Q Everyone’s a little bit racist.
I have dislikes, but I don’t hate anyone “because of race, age, sex or whatever, I hate cunts and if you’re a cunt I’m going to hate you.”
Hate within our own community can be witnessed on gay apps, where it is common to see such things as no blacks, no Asians, no oldies, no queens, straight acting only etc. I understand that we have preferences, but do we have to be so blunt with it?
Within the LGBT+ communities there are divides, trans and bears have their own Pride events and at Pride we have the Women’s tent, Bears tent, Urban tent, Trans tent to name a few.
These areas are for everyone to celebrate their sexuality and to love one another for who we are, and not create a divide within!
The Pride Movement and how it started.
LGBT pride; Gay Pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The word when used in this context is solely used as the antonym of shame, which has long been used to control and oppress LGBT people throughout history.
The modern Pride movement began after the Stonewall riots in 1969, though arguably it started four years earlier, in Philadelphia in 1965. On July 4 of that year 40 gay men and women held a demonstration in front of the liberty bell at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
These demonstrations became annual for the years before Stonewall, gradually expanding to other cities including Washington D.C. and New York.
But June 27, 1969 saw the pride movement take a turn. The Stonewall riots were a fundamental step of the gay community fighting back against their oppression.
In New York’s Greenwich Village, the police decided to raid a gay bar called Stonewall Inn – which was owned by the mafia.
Police raids on gay bars were a regular occurrence through the 1960s, usually with some level of forewarning. However this day the police arrived unannounced, demanding patron identification papers and escorted customers outside the bar.
Some of these customers decided to fight back, crowds started to build, coins and bottles were thrown. These riots lasted over 5 days, neighbouring communities came together to fight back.
In the wake of these riots two gay activist organisations were formed in New York which concentrated on confrontational tactics.
Two newspapers were established to promote gay rights for both men and women and within a few years gay rights organisations were established across the US and other countries around the world.
One of these organisations was GLF – the Gay Liberation Front.
On June 28, 1970 the first gay pride marches – as recognised today – took place in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York to commemorate the anniversary of the riots.
The concept carried across the pond and on July 1, 1972 the GLF organised the UK’s first Gay Pride march. The theme was simple; “Out and Proud”.
Only 700 people it is reported took part in this march. Many within the gay community feared that they would be arrested. Ultimately no-one was, but there was a heavy presence of aggressive police.
At this time same-sex kissing in public was prohibited by law, and while the police would have arrested people as a lone couple they could not arrest 700 people together.
Homosexuality was still viewed as an illness. Lesbian mothers still had children taken from them, and through the years police would arrest thousands of men for consenting to gay behaviour. How things have changed!
Back then there was no huge music festival, mass celebration floats nor fanfares. The Pride parade simply proceeded from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park, culminating in a mass picnic there. Over the years the nature of Pride changed.
Thousands started to come and celebrate their sexuality, huge parties took place and laws in government slowly changed
Brighton Pride began with a gay demonstration in October 1972 by the The Sussex Gay Liberation Front (SGLF) followed by a full pride march in July 1973.
Pride wouldn’t then return to the city until 1991 with the Brighton Area Action Against Section 28 which brought hundreds to the streets.
In 1992 Brighton had its first contemporary Pride march, which ended on The Level, over the years it evolved and grew so much the march ended at Preston Park for the first time in 1996.
Each year Brighton Pride marks itself as the UK’s best; which attracts over 150,000 people to come and see our beautiful city.
Brighton’s diversity is perfect for such a celebration and for some people it is always a great day out.
In 2004, Brighton Pride became a charity with the hope to both develop the event and to advance public education by raising awareness of issues affecting LGBT people.
In 2011, organisers controversially introduced an entry fee to the park festival, as the company was in financial ruin and ran up over £200,000 in debt.
Since 2012, Pride has been under new management and has raised over £200,000 for local LGBT/HIV community groups.
I love Brighton Pride, over the years I’ve met so many people on the day and feel that Brighton does offer the best pride in the UK.
Sadly at times I fear a small minority of people have lost the true meaning of Pride, seeing it as an excuse to party hard and a great opportunity to pick someone up for random sex. With thousands to choose from it’s unfortunately not hard.
Pride is a day to show our love for people of the same-sex, and to show people that we’re not sex crazed fiends – the way we are perceived by many homophobic people.
Pride is also a day we stand against hate, Pride is a day we stand together and say no to hate.
A day when we fight for equality, and remember the people who have fought hard for what we have today and hopefully tomorrow.
This year marks 25 years since Pride in Brighton became an annual event, and with all the hate post Brexit, I’d love to walk the parade with a placard saying “Hold hands, say no to hate”,
I’d love to see everyone walking along the parade linking hands against hate. Please join me.
I hope to hold my boyfriend’s hand during Pride, and I’ll remember how lucky I am that I can do this – that I don’t live in one of all too many countries where I would fear for my life if I did so!
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