IT'S called The Big Weekend and 2015’s Manchester Pride affair truly lived up to its name. Sprawled over three main sites around the buzzing Gay Village, with a line-up including the likes of Dannii Minogue, it’s hard to believe the original 1980s event was a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel. Various transformations followed, including Mardi Gras and Gayfest, before Manchester Pride was born in 2003 and became a registered charity four years later.
Men in loin clothes flashed their pert posteriors and towering transvestites sashayed around on stilts
In many ways, the festival’s growth mirrors the increasing recognition of LGBT rights in a wider context. UK breakthroughs since the turn of the century include civil partnerships (legalised in 2005), same-sex marriage (legalised in 2014, except Northern Ireland) and adoption by same-sex couples; reflecting the changing attitudes seen throughout much of the western world.
With this growing awareness, however, comes the price of discrimination from those in opposition: Margate’s recent Pride procession was threatened with an anti-gay leaflet campaign and part of the event was subsequently cancelled due to a lack of funding. With much of the world still displaying a similar lack of acceptance, LGBT pride has never been more relevant – and our city’s celebration of this colourful community never more fitting.
Pride 2015 (credit: Chris Keller-Jackson)This year being the Pride festival’s 25th anniversary was a perfect excuse to pull out all the stops, kicking off on Friday with performers like Texas and culminating on Monday in a moving candlelit vigil to commemorate those lost to HIV. Rainbow pride flags decorated building facades and bright chains of flowers topped off revellers’ outfits, many optimistically summery despite the undecided weather.
PICTURED - MANCHESTER PRIDE 2015
Yes skin was showing, booze flowing and whistles blowing as partygoers filled the Gay Village and its surrounds like vibrant sardines. Drag ‘queens’ threaded their way through, strangely dignified despite flamboyant fluttering lashes and candy-coloured wigs, whilst men in loin clothes flashed their pert posteriors and towering transvestites sashayed around on stilts. Elsewhere befuddled tourists peered at crumpled maps whilst sloshed couples became amorous under neon strobe lights to nostalgic noughties hits. Dubious dancing abounded and some underwear was even dispensed as merrymakers lapped up the eclectic atmosphere and enjoyed performances by international and local artists.
Sir Ian McKellen leads the Pride ParadeSaturday saw Sir Ian Mckellen reprise his role as parade Grand Marshal - as he had two months earlier in New York - leading a devotion-themed procession of 130 groups and over 2500 participants (including special guest Keegan Hirst, the first Rugby League player to come out as gay) before delivering a stirring onstage speech. Whilst the Burnley-born actor’s work has seen him traverse the globe, most famously to star as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, his love of Lancashire remains strong and he even classed his appearance on Corrie’s cobbles as fulfilling a lifetime ambition. The actor praised Manchester as “a very comfortable place for gay people” and drew a contrast with countries like Russia, where prejudice is still rife.
Pride’s CEO Mark Fletcher echoed his sentiment, saying: “The festival remains a great example of all the work we have done and continue to do. The parade is a highlight of Manchester’s social calendar. Here, we reflect on how far we’ve come and all the trailblazers that have helped us get to this point in society”.
"Barriers and boundaries are being been broken down," he said, "but there’s still a long way to go”.
Let’s hope that by next year, the journey to total acceptance will be that much shorter as Manchester’s festival continues to shine, ‘a beacon of light for the rest of the world’.
