LGSM News
It's quite illogical to say ‘I’m gay and I’m into defending the gay community but I don’t care about anything else.’ It’s important that if you're defending communities, you’re defending all communities and not just one.
Mark Ashton
It's quite illogical to say ‘I’m gay and I’m into defending the gay community but I don’t care about anything else.’ It’s important that if you're defending communities, you’re defending all communities and not just one.
Mark Ashton
LGSM members participated in the Norwich Pride Parade and festival on Saturday 25 July. Along the route of the Parade, we were joined by a large contingent of friends and supporters and our banner was again greeted with applause along the route by those who had turned out to watch the Parade pass. The level of recognition in Norwich was noticeably lower than at some of recent events we have attended, and this may well be down to the fact that there is no history of mining in East Anglia.
That said, the organisers of Norwich Pride made us feel more than welcome and our stall in The Forum was busy all day. It was heartening to see most of the major trade unions with stalls at the festival – all spreading the message of trade unionism and providing information on what the trade unions were doing to protect and extend the rights of LGBT people in the workplace.
Norwich Pride is in its 7th year and has the full support of Norwich City Council and Norfolk County Council. Norwich City Hall was decorated with a 120ft-long rainbow quilted banner to greet the Parade.
Mike Jackson spoke at a screening of Pride on Friday 24 July, which was very well attended – and many of the audience members visited the stall on Saturday to say hello or to buy a T-shirt. On Saturday afternoon, there was a Question Time event, where Mike shared the platform with Clive Lewis MP (Norwich South), Lady Phyll Opoku from UK Black Pride, and Tom Shakespeare, a disability activist. This event was really successful and there was a very lively discussion prompted by questions from the audience.
Our presence at Norwich Pride would not have happened if it had not been for the work behind the scenes by James and Tom Leith, who first put us in contact with the Norwich Pride organisers, Nick O’Brien and Poppy Rose. Nick, Poppy and their team have worked really hard to build a successful Norwich Pride and have built a fantastic event. Our thanks go to all at Norwich Pride and all those who joined us on the Parade for a great day.
