Nottingham Pride 2010

Nottingham Pride is now in its eighth year. Apparently going from success to success, this year's event was for the first time held at the Forest Recreation Ground, a step-up from the Arboretum where it has been held previously. Following on from last year, the event was preceded by a well-attended march. Encouragingly this year, there was an explicitly political fringe event, although politics also intruded on the festivities with the appearance of a small group of Islamic fundamentalists.

This year's march followed the same route as last year's albeit in the opposite direction. Marchers formed up in the Arboretum, near the bandstand, from 10.30am and set-off, with a punctuality unfamiliar to seasoned activists, shortly before 11am. The weather had not looked promising while people were arriving at the Arboretum and there had been a brief shower at about 10.45, but this didn't last and the rain held off for most of the day.

The march was led by a marching band (returning from last year) playing unique covers of pop classics. Although the Arboretum had looked fairly empty while people were gettting ready, the numbers seemed to swell once it got started with getting on for 1,000 people taking part by my estimate. Snaking its way down North Sherwood Street, left onto Shakespeare Street and then onto Mansfield Road and up to the Forest Rec, the protest was a colourful event with banners from assorted local organisations.

Homophobic stickers had appeared in the city in the run-up to this year's Pride and following appearances at the recent Derby Pride, there was an expectation that Islamic fundamentalists would show their face. With an additional rumour that the EDl might also show up the police were out in force, with the march led by police horses and with the CCTV van and dirt bikes also available.

The fundamentalists had ensconced themselves at the entrance to the Forest Rec, opposite the Forest Lodge, under the watchful eye of Inspector Andy Townsend and a police evidence gathering team. To my mind the small group (there were only about 12 of them) recalled the characters in Chris Morris' Four Lions (particularly Barry), but were apparently unaware of their own descent into cliche. As marchers approached the Islamists began a chant of "Shame on you," which was greeted by a mass of people giving them the finger, jeering and even waving. Although they had apparently been in place from about 10am, the group headed off within minutes of the march coming past them, presumably returning to whichever other city they'd travelled from, my suspicions being that they were the same group who showed up in Derby and not local. If this is the worst that the Islamic fundamentalist movement in the East Midlands can muster I'm not sure we have much to worry about.

The main Pride event was in the middle of the Forest Recreation Ground, surrounded by an unwelcoming fence. There were two stages, with stalls running diagonally across the site between them. For the first time this year there was a "speaker's corner" area for political discussions, although this had pointedly been placed in a distant corner to ensure nobody stumbled across it by accident. Far be it that politics get in the way of people's enjoyment of this year's headliners, the Cheeky Girls.

As in previous years the stalls were dominated by organisations looking to up their credentials as equal opportunities employers, among them Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council Registrars, Nottinghamshire Police, British Transport Police, Nottingham City Homes and even Her Majesty's revenue and Customs. There were also a splattering of unions (RCN, Unison, Unite) and a few local LGBT organisations. The Co-Operative were particularly prominent for some reason. They had a large banner on the march and a huge stall promoting membership of the Co-Op, the plight of honey bees and their motoring group. Unlike previous years there was no general activist presence, apparently because the cost of stalls had been increased.

Alongside the official events, a fringe meeting had been organised in the nearby Djanogly Leisure Centre in an attempt to up the political content of Pride, all too often seen as little more than a big party. The meeting was addressed by Claire, a trans activist and vice-chair of the NUT LGBT advisory group; Skye Chirape, a Zimbabwean lesbian activist, former asylum seeker and founding member of NOIZY Image; and Peter Tatchell, well-known human rights activist and co-founder of Outrage! Ali Hili of Iragi LGBT has also hoped to speak, but was unfortunately too ill to do so.

Clare began the meeting by describing the situation of trans people across the world. As might be expected, in many places the situation is not good and it is often the police and authorities who are responsible for much of the abuse. Even in the UK she suggested that gender non-conformity was often treated as a mental condition and that this needed to be challenged.

A letter was then read from Ali Hili apologising for his non-attendance. In it he noted that while Iraq had been a relatively safe place for LGBTI people under Saddam Hussein, more than 750 LGBTI people had been murdered or gone missing since the invasion, many of them as part of an orchestrated campaign by Shia leaders. The role of foreign intervention in the spreading of homophobia was a theme which continued in Skye Chirape's talk. She noted the influence of colonialism, pointing to the existence of same sex unions in traditional societies. Colonialism had imposed a number of homophobic laws which remained in place. Skye described the the invisibility of LGBTI people in Zimbabwean society. This fits into a perception that people cannot be gay and black. She noted that in the Stonewall riots a sizeable proportion of the rioters had been from an ethnic minority, but that now Pride had become predominantly white.

At this point there was an opportunity for some questions. This led to a discussion about the police's engagement with Pride and whether it should be taken seriously. Skye noted her own very negative experiences with the immigration services who she described as racist and homophobic. Richard McCance, the chair and organiser of the meeting, also took this opportunity to draw attention to the city council's decision to cut the funding for the Outburst youth group which supports LGBTI young people.

Peter Tatchell was in someways the big draw at the event. Described by Richard McCance as the "scourge of the tabloids," Tatchell has been a longstanding human rights activist famous for his direct action protests. He began by expressing his support for the campaign against cuts by a Labour council. He talked about the the fact that no international convention explicitly protects the rights of LGBTI people. Around 80 countries continued to ban homosexuality, including 46 of the 54 Commonwealth states. Despite, or perhaps, because of this the Commonwealth refuses to speak out against the abuses perpetrated against LGBTI individuals by its members, something Tatchell has tried to change. He was clear that these homophobic laws, were not authentic expressions of traditional cultures as they had been imposed by colonial powers and never repealed.

Despite the bleak situation Tatchell was clear that there is hope and pointed to the heterosexuals who had spoken out against homophobia, often at great risk to themselves. This he suggested had helped ensure the release of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, imprisoned for 14 years in Malawi after celebrating their engagement. Despite the problems, Tatchell finished by suggesting that the tide of history was flowing in our direction and that we just needed to give it a bit of a push.

At this point there was a further opportunity for contributions from the floor. This presented an opportunity for the party lines to be trotted out by the local lefties. Hence we had a critique of "clerical fascism" from an AWL member and a call for a "new workers' party" from a Socialist Party comrade. (The SWP - who had been out and about earlier in the day for the march - were notable by their absence.) There was also a contribution from a woman at the back who revealed herself to be a member of the police and trotted out their official line as a counterpoint. There was also a discussion about how best to deal with fundamentalists of whatever stripe and a suggestion from Tatchell that people ensure they engage with local muslim communities.

This was a positive meeting which served to inject some much needed politics back into Pride. Grappling not only with the politics of homophobia, but also with the issues around immigration and asylum it is to be hoped that this will become a feature of future Prides.

Links:

Peter Tatchell

Skye Chirape

Nottingham Pride