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 led the Northern Pride Parade in Newcastle on Saturday 18 July, with the Dunston Silver Band. Our banner was followed by the Durham Miners Association banner and contingent and our friends from Durham Pride were also there in numbers. Along the route of the Parade, we were joined by a host of friends and supporters from across the North-East. And our banner was greeted with applause all along the route by those who had turned out to watch the Parade pass.
39 years ago I left my mining village in County Durham to go to University ‘down South’. At the time I was a single, ostensibly heterosexual young man who believed that I still hadn’t met the right woman. Two weeks after starting Uni I discovered that ‘the right woman’ was, in fact,a man!
The worldwide response to the film Pride has been amazing – it has given LGSM a whole new audience of contacts to link up with. We have had speakers and representatives at events in Turkey, Hawaii and Mexico. LGSM has been proud to bring its message of solidarity and support to Pride marches, film festivals and protests across Europe and across Britain.
The Seoul Parade is scheduled for 28 June, but the police have banned it after lobbying and protests by right-wing Christian groups. Japanese and Korean LGBT groups have formed a solidarity campaign to overturn it, with a slogan of ’Solidarity under the Rainbow - Stand up for somebody’. Follow on Twitter
Saturday 6th June saw Pride Assemblies take place in both Korea and Kiev, with aggressive homophobic opposition at both. Seoul Pride faced a large anti-gay Christian protest and Kiev Pride was threatened with far right violence. A reminder of why international and political solidarity remains necessary. LGSM was able to use our twitter (@LGSMpride) account to send messages of support to both.
