As you might have noticed on Connect or across various social media platforms, it’s Pride Month or as I prefer to call it, Pride Season, since Pride is celebrated at different times for various cities/countries. However, today, 27th June, is the Global Pride Day and I wanted to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about Pride!
Firstly, for those who don’t know, I’m gay. Ask me in person and I’ll probably make a joke and squirm away from answering the question. But hiding behind a screen and keyboard, it’s much easier to write the closet away. Anyway, I was definitely born this way and as much as it is me, I don’t really subscribe to labels since I want folks to know me as me not what you think I should be like just because I’m gay…or a geek…or a gamer…or whatever.
What is Pride?
- Pride is a celebration of the LGBT+ community; acknowledging the challenges of the past, appreciating the sacrifices made for equality and recognition, and to constantly educate within and outside the community that there’s still much to be done.
- LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, and was used in the 1990s. Since then, the term has grown to LGBTQIA (Queer, Intersex, Asexual) and even more. For simplicity, the term LGBT+ is used quite often where the ‘plus’ is to include all the other terms.
Who celebrates Pride?
- Obviously, the majority of the LGBT+ community celebrates Pride.
- But, anybody can celebrate Pride. You don’t have to be part of the LGBT+ community to celebrate Pride. A lot of friends, family members and supporters come to celebrate Pride.
- And if you’re on the fence, go read up about it, speak to folks and try to understand why. Ultimately, it’s about universal love and equality.
When is Pride?
- Pride Month is in June to acknowledge the Stonewall Riots that also took place in the same month.
- But Pride is celebrated at different times and you can check out this site to see when Pride is celebrated in different parts of the world.
- In Manchester (UK), we celebrate Pride during the Summer Bank Holiday Weekend which is the last weekend in August. The main celebrations will be from Friday to Monday during the bank holiday but there will also be numerous events held throughout the month of August.
Why should we celebrate Pride? (this is my personal answer)
- I was born this way, but civilisation has evolved where in quite a lot places, it is not considered normal to be gay and there is still a lot of discrimination, persecution and violence towards the LGBT+ community.
- I’ve spent 20 years in the UK where it’s more tolerant and accepting but despite having a lot of gay friends here, I still have a lot of underlying issues: I still struggle to open up to people and I still get anxious and avoid talking about myself for fear of having to come out. A lot of my introvertness stems from this.
- It’s not a nice feeling to have all these insecurities and self-doubts, or to have to live a secret double life and I would not wish this on anybody else. So, it’s very important to me that we should celebrate Pride and to stand up and be counted.
- In August, Manchester undergoes a beautiful transformation in preparation for celebrating Pride: a lot of shops start to hang rainbow flags or have special banners out with positive messages of love and equality. For that one month, it may sound silly, but I feel absolutely normal, loved and accepted. I can’t quite put it down into words, but it’s special.
Where is Pride?
- Pride is everywhere!
- No matter what your situation may be, always be proud of who you are. You may be able to shout it out from the tallest building, or you can only do so in a quiet prayer. Whatever it may be, be strong and know that you are part of a larger global community that understands, appreciates and loves you for everything that you are!
How is Pride celebrated?
- I can only speak from my experience here in the UK but Pride is celebrated in many forms. You can find out more about Manchester’s celebrations here.
- The main celebration starts with the Pride Parade that starts on one end of the city and snakes it way to Manchester’s Gay Village. The Gay Village is a neighbourhood that’s filled with bars, restaurants and shops that are gay centric. It’s a safe place for the LGBT+ community to hang out.
- In the Gay Village, there will be streat parties, stalls, fun fairs, and music stages. There’s a section filled with charities that support the community and there will also be stalls set up to educate the community. At the music stages, there would be singers/performers from all over to provide entertainment throughout the 4 day weekend.
- Across the city, many bars/restaurants will organise gay centric events. It may be quite cliché but those are usually karaoke nights or cocktail parties.
- Also, throughout the month of August, the local arts council will organise many gay themed exhibitions, shows, movie screenings, book readings etc.
- On the last day of the 4 day weekend, a candlelit vigil is held to remember those who lost their lives to HIV, to continue to fight the stigma that it has and to give strength to those living with HIV.
I hope the above will give you an idea of what Pride celebrations are all about. I have also been very fortunate to celebrate Pride in other cities beside Manchester and I’ll share with you some photos of them.
Helsinki Pride, Finland
- I was actually here for a badminton competition (part of a wider Gay Games), my very first international match actually; I got a bronze in single (Group D) and gold in doubles (Group C). And I only realised a few days before that it coincided with their Pride celebrations!
- All participants in the Gay Games got to take part in the parade and march down the streets of Helsinki! Pretty sweet!
Oakland Pride, California, USA
- I was in San Francisco for the Local Guides Summit 2016 and was there a few days earlier. I was looking for things to do and found out that Oakland was celebrating their Pride and went over to watch the parade!
- It was quite family oriented and had a lot of kids and family members joining in the march which was really nice to see.
Provincetown Pride, Massachusetts, USA
- For a change, I actually did know that Pride was taking place! My friends and I wanted to see what it was like in America so a group of about 10 of us went over to Provincetown which is a very popular gay coastal town just outside Boston.
- It was definitely quite different to the European celebrations and it was very much like the Mardi Gras festival that I have seen on TV, where folks would toss bead necklaces at revelers.
- My highlight of the trip was actually going whale watching and wow…what an experience!
Manchester Pride, UK
- Last but not least, Manchester Pride that I’ve watched year after year after year.
- To help build up my courage and get over my fear of being gay, a few years back, I volunteered to be a parade marshal. That was quite fun and I got to see the charitable side of Pride.
- Since then, I’ve marched twice at the parade with my badminton club.
And I’ve put together some clips that I recorded from Manchester Pride 2019. I made the recordings in a quite impromptu way and then I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them. Perhaps, the fear got the better of me. But, at least, it’s done now to share with you all!
Anyway, this is my experience and understanding of Pride. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and got to see one aspect of who I am. If you’ve never had a gay friend or met a gay person…well, I guess, here I am! I hope that you can realise that I am no different from anybody else. Maybe just slightly better looking. I’m kidding!
And if you have any positive stories to tell, please feel free to share them in the comments below! Perhaps, you’ve watched a Pride parade in your city and it was different to what I’ve shown here. We are here to share our differences and hopefully, celebrate them in a safe space too!