Monday 25 August 2014

Missed the point of Pride.

Recently Manchester celebrated it's annual pride event (it's always held over the bank holiday in august) and I've seen thousands of pictures and video's from it, but I can't help but think... most people who went have missed the whole point of us having a pride event.

What IS gay pride then?

There's several reasons why the gay community holds a pride event, anywhere in the world. It's to feel united for once, to take stock over the progress towards equality and what's happened in the past year, it's to get our brains thinking about what we need to do next in order to gain equality, it's a time to take a reflection about what has happened to the community over the past, it's to inspire.

Tonight, on the Monday, the pride will close and as always, it's a candle lit vigil in a park, where if you want, you can light a candle and join in the service, and to be fair, is one of the most beautiful parts of the whole pride week.

A week. Yes. That is how long pride goes on for in Manchester.

Not a lot of people know that, because it gets over shadowed by the "big weekend", where there's the parade, celebrity's and live music. It's the time that the pubs and clubs cash in on pride and of course these days, it's where pride makes it's money to help fund it through the year.

The big weekend helps people to come together, but there's nothing said about what has happened to the gay community over the past year, there's nothing about what we want to happen in the next year. While yes its all singing and all dancing, it's missing the point. Most people will only go to the big weekend, because they want a drink and a good time, they actually don't care about the gay community and the strives towards equality. Most gay people these days will say that they are treated equally, yet, look into the law, we've still got a long way to go.

Blood donation - Gay people still have to prove they've not had sex for a year before they can donate blood.... good look proving that.

Marriage equality - Gay people can now get married to people of the same sex, but look into the divorce side of things. Did you know you can't file for divorce if your partner has cheated with a person of the same sex?

General public safety - Any straight couple in the UK can walk down any street and hold hands, you try doing that with your partner of the same sex in most of the UK's council estates, you'll soon find yourself in hospital or a mourg.

Employment - While legally no, any employer can not terminate your employment in the UK based on your sexuality, they can and will look for other ways to get you out of working for them, if they don't like your sexuality, infact in many cases, you won't get the job at all if you "appear to be gay".

The wider community - In other parts of the world, people are still hunted down and killed because they're believed to be gay, as a gay community, we need to stand up for these people and push our MP's to make change happen, in places where they can't.

5 examples there of things we need to change, and yet, most gay people wouldn't know or care about these issues until it has an effect on them. Now don't get me wrong, there's people working behind the scene's to make these changes happen. Many organizations and charity's are trying to change laws and keep people safe... but you need to be aware of these issues in order to be safe.

Going to the big weekend at pride, because some good singers are on, is not going to change anything, nor does it educate people. So sure, wear the colours, shout out loud, be proud... but educate yourself at the same time.

Manchester pride and the people who work for it and support it, is brilliant, but I feel it's letting people miss the chance for education on what are still violent issues. Equality can only be reached by us knowing and dealing with the issues.

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