Pride Yesterday In London

[smurfchops]

Did any of you go, what did you think?

[douglas9401]

No and not much.

[retrocop]

No and disgusted. ( but with another issue)

[Bobbisox1]

Too far and tbh they have them in most cities now so London would be no different

[barry1010]

Even the gay people I know don't go to Pride events

[sssh]

left london 11 yrs ago. haven't been to a pride since. i worry about security. also, i won't march under a trans flag. I'm team LGB.

[douglas9401]

Factionist. :-)

[Bobbisox1]

Barry , my hairdresser ( he) wouldn’t be seen at one of their marches , yet my gay girlfriend goes to as many as she can

[barry1010]

Yes, 'they' are not all the same. My gay friend just can't identify with the men who, in his words, prance around in leather shorts like reject Sid Snotts

[naomi24]

The gays i know don’t behave like that either, Barry.

[Atheist]

Everyday gays don't prance around in leather shorts any more than everyday Bavarians do. Everyday gays and straights lead everyday lives and dress in everyday clothes. The pavement gang outside the Coleherne pub favoured leather trousers, jackets and caps with bits of chrome braid, but they were there for a fun evening and so they were dressed up for it. I doubt if Naomi's friends would bother to put on a show for her.

[naomi24]

My friends don’t do it on high days and holidays either, atheist. I can’t speak for Barry’s so why don’t you ask him? He raised the subject so it would be impolite to exclude him from your conversation.

[barry1010]

The gay friends of mine I mentioned don't frequent gay clubs or bars, never have.

[retrocop]

The Coleherne in Earls Court wasn’t a pub. It was pure exhibitionist theatre. I always thought Kenny Everett based Sid Snot’s character as a customer of that cess pit of a pub.

[Atheist]

The Coleherne was a pub. It wasn't a theatre. It attracted a certain clientele, as do rugger pubs or soccer pubs. Your view of it being a 'cess pit' reminds me of the person who referred to AIDS victims as being in "a cess-pit of their own making." I suspect you don't feel comfortable with the idea of homosexual acitivities.

[Deskdiary]

I’m in my early 50s, my brother in his late 40s, and he came out to me when he was 18. When same sex marriage became legal (I could never understand why it was illegal - you can’t help biology and who you fall in love with) I was best man at his wedding, and it was one of the happiest, and proudest, days of my life.

I’ve been to a couple of pride events with my brother and his husband, and they were great fun, however, neither of them can get on board with how it’s been hijacked by trans.

I guess that makes them transphobic.

[rowanwitch]

Used to have a stall in the market when the march finished with a 'party in the park'. They were fun events with good acts on the main stage. However many events were hijacked by young straight people who tended to be there to cause trouble so they split the two. The march returned to its original format and although some cities kept the park event it tended to be in a different day.
To be honest I did not feel the most vocal women there were a group I identified with, although I was in a long term relationship with a woman and although I certainly didn't hide where I was coming from as it were, neither did I wear the uniform, hard core butch really was not something I wanted to be, and I was neither young enough or had the body to be a cute androgynous type.
So I faced hostility from the women, back in the days when femme was a dirty word and bi people were not accepted either.
So no I didn't go, and even if I was still with a woman I wouldn't go now, it's mostly reinforcing stereotypes, and the media only focus on those who best fit them

[jackthehat]

I haven't been to Pride in London since the early 90s.
At that time there was still a long way for us to go to have parity; the age of consent was still 18 for men, Section 28 still restricted education, there were no employment rights, we were still dismissed from the Armed Forces and there was no legal security in gay relationships.
It was far more of a 'political' event in those days.
Now, as society has moved on and the foregoing issues have been largely won, Pride is far more of a party and people dress and behave as if they are going to a party to have a good time - the Pride march is only part of the day and there is a big jamboree somewhere afterwards which is the bit that most of us looked forwards to. I often used to swerve the parade and head straight for Jubilee Gardens.
I can't recall any sort of trouble/fighting, etc. on any occasion and the drug-busts were in single figures.

[retrocop]

//I suspect you don't feel comfortable with the idea of homosexual acitivities.//
To a certain extent I am totally ambivalent of their activities. It worries me not one wit, however, I fail to see the point of a Gay Pride march. It appears it is not now a protest but a celebration.
Why should a celebration disrupt the free flow of straight people's right to access roads and transport ? By all means let them celebrate and have their parties in Hyde Park or other open spaces but the streets are already disrupted by certain factions who claim their right to protest and free speech.
It does their cause no favours by blocking ordinary straight people to use the thoroughfares without hindrance.

//The decriminalisation of homosexuality did not happen until 27 July 1967, as part of the Sexual Offences Act.//
Yesterday's chip paper.

[Spungle]

Can't see the point of it. Don't think a hyper-sexualised wokefest adds anything to society and certainly not somewhere for children. Sad waste of time.

[sp1814]

Moved out of London last year so didn't attend, but would if we were still local because it looked pretty awesome. Might have to do Brighton instead as it's closer (I hear you Bobbisox1).

Ha ha...just noticed the phrase "everyday gays".

Could be the funniest thing I've read this year.

Others have complained that it interrupts the lives of straight people. But straight people go to Pride. It's no longer a 'gay thing". Hasn't been for years. And it's no more disruptive than the Lord Mayor's parade - probably why it's spread from London to so many cities in the UK?