Manchester Pride: a parade for the privileged?

It’s easy to see Manchester pride as a massive success: it’s one of the few Prides which is omnipresent throughout the city attracting people from across the UK and wider -amazing! But this year has made us question whether Pride in and of itself is intrinsically valuable to the LGBT+ community.

Arriving at Manchester Pride we found ourselves faced with a dilemma. We realised that without an NUS block we didn’t have a go-to space in the protest. Walking up and down the march trying to find a space we belonged in, it soon became apparent that it was separated out by the causes and clubs without space for lone queers who wanted to protest the homo-, bi- and trans*- phobias in society. The air was filled with club music instead of chants. The parade was colourful and beautiful but not political, or at least not explicitly political.

It was a parade, not a protest and we weren’t welcome.

It’s a shame because Manchester Pride is one of the few places where Pride is felt throughout the entire city: with everything from the train stations to the bars; from the hotels to the parks covered in rainbows; from the streets to the trams; not to mention every shop trying to attract the pink pound.

Front window display at Waterstones

It has a very clear platform to start a movement to drive change, but this potential is unrealised…

To be clear, we do think it’s political to take over city, to clear the roads and stop the traffic. But it would be even better if we used this opportunity, where the whole city from homophobe to ally is forced to listen, to unapologetically take the streets as ours, and demand our rights – full and equal! Not to parade in front of our own wonderful rainbow community – because we already know how fabulous we are!

On Saturday the march route was lined with thousands of people who were there for Pride. LGBT people who watched the march as silent onlookers. Imagine what a powerful message it would be to see all those people march, telling our stories and demanding our equality. Sharing everyday experiences painful, difficult, and challenging. The teenagers bullied in playgrounds, the lesbians excluded from healthcare, every victim of a hate crime-loud, proud, and strong together. Challenging the invisibility of LGBT people in everyday public life.

Edinburgh Pride 2014

Should being proud come with a price tag?

Pride creates a space where we can be a community more than at any other time of the year -maybe that’s why we call it Gay Christmas? But like Christmas Pride can come at a hefty cost. Only those able to afford a Pride wristband are able to access Manchester’s gay village – meaning that the streets, stalls and stages were in part off limits to those who couldn’t pay.  

Allowing socio-economic inequality to segregate our own community only further exposes the inequalities within our own community and doesn’t sit well with Pride’s overarching aim: equality. Pride should be about bringing LGBT people from across the spectrum together to celebrate their community and shout about the right for equality.

We never thought we’d say this but we miss the days of smaller prides – Scotia, Glasgow, Newcastle where yes it can be cheesey, commercialised, and claustrophobic (I mean you are always going to bump into an ex right?), but there is space for a political statement to be made.

Taking ownership of the streets shouldn’t be a privilege of those who are involved in a national organisation with enough money to secure space and publicity to have a visible presence. If everyone in the streets was to participate and voice their demands surely this would strengthen the fight for equality more so than a parade which is beautiful but not angry! Pride is protest!

Should we still be proud of Manchester pride?

For more on Hazel and Tasha’s adventures please follow The Gay Agenda

Happy Pride!