Best wishes to everyone taking part in this weekend’s Manchester Pride parade and especially to my friends in LGBTory. I hope you all have a great weekend.
Conservative Party News
- Osborne calls for loan scheme as 10 businesses a day go bust
- Lansley condemns blight of mixed-sex wards
- William Hague welcomes UN resolution on ceasefire in Gaza
- Shapps slams 10,000% APR loans
- Lansley welcomes GP support for Conservative health policy
- Duncan stresses saving jobs should not be a matter of spin
- Clark demands energy companies are referred to Competition Commission
- Printing money is the last resort of desperate governments
- Clark slams Government complacency over gas supplies
- Willetts urges Brown to adopt our apprenticeships proposals
Ian, have you seen this?
please make a stand against these bullies
http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/08/Aug/2301.htm
Must confess I think the (I think) £20 fee to get into Canal Street is way over the top. I was in town on Friday night and whilst I’m not gay it would have been nice to pop into Canal Street for a quick beer and enjoy the Pride Weekend atmosphere. I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I’m certainly not prepared to pay a £20 entry fee just for the privilege of one drink…
Your £20 also buys you the privilege of supporting numerous charities and organisations that support and make a real difference to the lives of thousands of people. It buys you the privilege of being part of a massive NO to homophobia, bigotry and hatred. It buys you the privilege of saying YES to equality and diversity. It buys you the privilege to contribute to an environment where the gay community can feel safe to celebrate, to remember, to honour our history and persecution and achievements to be recognised and validated, and be free to be ourselves. A small price to pay in my opinion…
I wasn’t aware that you have to pay a £20 entry fee in order to be against homophobia, bigotry and hatred… what nonsense.
At the Pride in London there is no charge to go into a “fenced-off” Trafalgar Square or Leicester Square for their entertainment and speeches etc. The other big English Pride is in Brighton - and no charge here either. Fine to have a parade. But it seems a bit “rich” to then charge £20 to get into the ‘Gay Village’ to browse around the community group stalls - and perhaps have a beer or two - when you are on a day trip from Birmingham. The Manchester Pride seems to be intertwined with Marketing Manchester which, I believe, is part of the Council. Sorry, it’s all about making money and that, as the students correctly say, is not what a Pride is all about. OK, Jackie Crozier thinks otherwise, as can be seen on the recent add-on to the article mentioned by salford friend.
Sorry ian i think i will stick to the swan in swinton. I could have a good night out on 20£ And still get a bag of chips.
Regards Joe
Gay pride is a right, not a privilege for those who can afford it.
Thank you ’salford friend’ for the link to the young people putting politics back into pride.. http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/08/Aug/2301.htm
people fought for the right to parade, to celebrate.. pride WAS a protest, and now to be told that politics are not in the ‘interests’ of gay pride is sickening.
and in reply to ‘Ella’, although it is a lovely picture that you paint of paying to enter gay pride, perhaps you should investigate further as to where the money really goes… e.g. of the 800,000 generated from pride ‘07, less than 0.8% of that went to local and grass roots queer organisations..
Pride before profit
pride IS a protest.
I am a regular reader of your blog Iain and as a Lesbian living in Swinton I felt it right to comment on this particular post, although I tend to lurk this is the first time I’ve posted a comment! Well done Iain for challenging the constant flow of “mis-information” stemming from “Marketing Manchester”, something just doesn’t seem right.
You certainly don’t have to pay £20 for a writstband “be against homophobia, bigotry and hatred”. People may say as a Conservative you as a politician cannot be either, and we all know that’s not true, there are many ways in which we can change things from within our own spheres of society. To say anyone who is unable/unwilling to buy a wristband is supporting bigotry is an insult.
As someone who is active in the womens/lesbian community in Greater Manchester I am sick and tired of the Manchester-centric, village obsessed Lesbian and Gay Foundation claiming to represent me and somehow by producing a never ending supply of pointless and wasteful literature about “ending homophobia”, a cause they cannot be expected to defeat alone or within our lifetimes I am very frustrated about how they constantly manipulate members of the community unto thinking they are the champions for equality and safer lifestyles when a great deal many of other individuals and groups have the same intentions yet are blocked from having the opportunity to do so because of their domination and monopoisation of the funding and the opportunity to promote the good work of voluntary groups other than themselves. They are not accountable to anyone, they purposely duck and dive and keep their meetings in secret, they carryout no consultation whatsoever with the wider community and arrogantly claim to represent the voices and needs of anyone who cares as much as they claim to.
Pride is supposed to be about raising awareness. Barricading yourself into the gay village, charging £22 to get in and positioning threatening looking police and security guards at every entrance is guaranteed to deter anyone who is curious to pop in and find out more (not that the current event offers much in the way of a positive impression).
And what do the barricades actually say about the state we’re in? We’re told that the fences and gates are there to protect us. Well, I object to the notion that to feel safe in Manchester City Centre I must pay £22, a large part of which goes on private security and the police.
Safety for all should be a right and should be financed through the usual methods (taxation and council tax).
I must say, it’s good to see a member of a local council questioning these sorts of matters.
Speaking to Andrew Gillivan at the Pink Paper yesterday, we went through the figures.
Of the £850,000 raised by Pride, £450,000 of this was running the event (only £95,000 went to charity, and that is split 4 ways, of which the LGBT sector as a whole gets 1/4 of this). In London, this is free, provided by the Mayors office.
I’m happy to pay £20 to get into Pride if £545,000 was going to charity, but this isn’t so. It’s being pocketed by the organisers and security contractors, paying for things Pride does not need.
Ella, read the figures. You are wrong, and have been proved wrong by none other than Manchester Pride’s own website (where all the figures are publically displayed).
I suggest you do some more research before taking such a ‘by the numbers’ approach to this.
Keep up the good work on the rhetoric though, it has real potential to persuade if you were supporting a valid cause.
Iain, feel free to get in touch (you should be able to see my email address) if you wish to chat to one of the people behind this protest.
It’s nice to see so many people agree with us.
Can only assume that as Ella makes reference to “privilege” she must live in an ivory tower and work for Village Business Association, LGF, White Bell Group, George House Trust, Marketing Manchester or Manchester City Council… We can all spot PR statements from real comments! I was one of the young trans people protesting the exclusion of trans people from P/pride and the total lack of support shown to Manchester’s women’s and trans communities by the organisers not funding or publicising these important safe spaces (still had to pay £22.50 on the day to access them tho!). I have plenty of straight friends who are not going to pay £15 for a wristband to attend the HIV/AIDS Vigil and similarly view the whole spectacle as exclusionary, elitist and snobby, when they could be learning about the queer community and supporting us in making homophobia, transphobia and sexism history!
It’s doubtful that the businesses and organisers who have profited from £100-£120 million pink pounds of revenue over the last 5 years, whilst giving a comparatively paltry £500,000 to charities, will listen and focus on liberation, grassroots politics and free entry for all in 2009… So, Manchester’s queer community will be running it’s own inclusive not-for-profit events instead and leaving the GayBeerFest punters to it! Join our Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14749493793
Website:
http://www.prideisaprotest.org
Stonewall was a RIOT, Not a brandname! Thanks to the big pride business machine for politicising a whole generation of queer and trans people!!
Dear All
I wanted to write this letter a while ago, after a very long time of consideration and frustration, but decided to let sleeping dogs lie.
However, I have now been asked and urged to write it by so many people that I have been left with no choice. It is with no pleasure or hidden agenda that I do so.
The subject matter is unfortunately Manchester Pride, or rather the organisation and running of Manchester Pride. A lot of the businesses have requested, no demanded, that this debate is opened and resolved.
The general feeling amongst the businesses, and a vast number of attendees, is that we no longer have a Manchester Pride that is an annual celebration of the LGBT community and The Gay Village. What we now have is Marketing Manchester’s Pride!
It has become an annual excuse for the organisation behind Pride to become dictators and revel in the power that they wield. Businesses are held to ransom over contributions, accreditations become more cumbersome and complicated, legally granted licences are revoked, little or no input is asked for, or actually wanted, from the very businesses that are the life blood of the whole event, and the VBA is at best tolerated and apparently seen more of a hindrance.
You would think that a charity driven event would actively encourage and search for advertising opportunities, the more people that know and are interested in an event then the more people attend and buy wristbands?
This alas is not the case with Pride. Businesses are actually dictated to that they cannot advertise Pride or use the logo before paying a very sizeable donation to them. You will not be listed or appear anywhere on the website either. Blackmail I believe is the word.
As we all know, and are extremely grateful for, The Village has a number of independent and small operators. It is these very independent and usually flamboyant people who keep The Gay Village fresh and alive 365 days a year.
Yet these are the very businesses that are penalised and punished by Pride for not having the ready cash flow of a large multi national operator, who can pay up their branches contribution easily. Small businesses sometimes rely on the Big Weekend itself to fund their contribution, so therefore get absolutely no support, no listings, no encouragement and no help from Pride because they haven’t paid up.
Surely an organisation that is in existence purely because of the businesses that started the whole thing off would want to support those businesses. Again this is not the case. What could and should be a community driven event is now a purely commercial operation, with absolutely no regard or thought given to the community itself. Established Gay Village operators are shunned and overlooked for non entity, non gay organisations that just have bigger purses.
One of our established operators wanted to add a fairground ride into the site, at their own expense and in a location of Prides choice, an idea that the VBA fully and vocally supported, and yet was refused.
Obviously because Pride needed yet another food concession on every available spare metre. One of the residents on Bloom Street was actually refused entry to their own owned property because 2 passes had already been issued (to the lodgers in his spare room by the way), so he bought a pass rather than deal with the rude jobsworths at accreditation.
The VIP tent was blatantly only there for Marketing Manchester to entertain their clients and friends, as none of the businesses got any passes! One of The Gay Villages most prominent and well known personalities was physically attacked by the Pride security back stage, as he was about to go on, for free, on his own time. This person has been involved with Manchester Pride since day 1, and has been very instrumental in helping to create the very village we see today. Yet apparently in the new order of ‘pounds over poofs’ this means nothing.
And the tales and stories go on and on, each detailing how the corporate face and commerciality of Pride is blatantly and forcibly enforced over and above the community and its participants.
Lets make no mistake that Manchester Pride is a hugely successful event, and long may that continue. But maybe its time to stop trying to turn it into a Reading Festival, the V Festival or a mini Glastonbury.
This event was created as a celebration of being gay, a chance for the gay community to revel and wallow in the fact that we do indeed have a famous Gay Village and a thriving huge and loyal base. The event is very important….the philosophy and ethos behind it is far more so!
As the spokesman for the VBA it is my job to ensure that the businesses are heard, and the feeling now is actually so strong that we demand to be heard and we demand an open, transparent and fair debate on where we go from here. Without the businesses there is no Pride, so I now publically and openly challenge them to join us in this debate and help us all ensure that Manchester Pride enjoys and celebrates another 18 years.
Yours sincerely
Phil Burke
Chair
It’s a great shame what’s going on in Manchester in regards to Pride. The glorious free spirited bank holiday weekends of Mardi Gras and GayFest are long gone. Apart from the parade the new Manchester Pride format only appeals to a very small group of people and it could be so much more, although I guess there’s no money in including everyone!