Why Beverley needs Pride, and why middle aged crusties like me should attend

OPINION – Beverley Pride takes place on Saturday 8 August. It’s a free, family friendly day in town, now in its third year, built entirely around local talent and open to anyone who wants to come along. There’s no ticket, nothing to sign up to. You simply turn up, much as you would for the any other local event in the calendar.

There’s a plain benefit to Beverley Pride and one that means as many people as possible should attend. Even people like me. The local economy! Our shops, pubs and cafés benefit from the extra footfall, just as they do when its a race day or the folk festival.

So before getting into any of the political or cultural weeds, it’s worth saying that Beverley is fortunate to have it, and fortunate to have the volunteers who’ve put in the time and built this from scratch. It’s hard to imagine the amount of free hours given and effort put in! Huge applause.

I’m not gay myself, I hate crowds and I can’t dance. Im about as grotesquely gammon and middle class as can be. I mention that simply so you know where I’m coming from. I’ve no personal experience of growing up gay in a town like Beverley. No ‘lived experience’ as they say now.

Though I do admit, Iv always thought we have some bloody handsome chaps about our town, the sort that by comparison makes one contemplate my own decaying pancake face and crooked chin.

So I urge you to go and join in, no mater who you are. You will enjoy it! But if you’re still have doubts, consider this.

Pride as a movement hasn’t had an easy ride lately. Nationally it seems to have become another front in the culture wars, and it doesn’t take much scrolling through our own Beverley Facebook groups to find people with very strong opinions on the subject.

Take the most common complaint. Pride, we’re told, gets shoved down everyone’s throat. I’m not convinced that stacks up, certainly not in Beverley.

Where I do have some sympathy is with the annual pride stuff put on by corporate marketing departments. Every June, multinational companies suddenly discover rainbow logos, issue carefully crafted statements about inclusion, then return to business as usual a few weeks later. If people find that cynical, I don’t blame them.

But that’s a criticism of marketing departments, not of Pride itself, though I do admire Kcom and other local businesses that genuinely and consistently lean in to help.

The other complaint I read is that it’s somehow being pushed into schools. Having served as a school governor for a number of years, I can tell you that simply isn’t my experience.

Schools teach children not to bully one another. They teach respect. They recognise that some children have two mums or two dads, just as others have one parent or live with grandparents That’s not as often claimed indoctrination. It’s just teaching children to behave decently towards one another, which is something I know most parents wholeheartedly support.

Then there’s the question that always gets asked, usually with a knowing smile.

“What about Straight Pride?”

Well, if people want to organise a straight pride I say, go ahead, but I doubt anyone would turn up. Pride is organised to provide a recognition, reassurance and a safety net for problems that your average straight person does not generally encounter. Like plucking up the courage to just hold your partners hand in public or show casual affection.

We ‘the straights’ don’t need a movement as we have already achieved a hard equality that we can take for granted. They, ‘the gays’ have not. See the difference? I know, I know. There is no law stopping it, but the soft battle is still raging. And I’ve merely reference banal thing such as holding hands, the internalised inequality goes much further for many in the LGBT community. But Ill be honest, I’m not the best person to fully explore all that, I don’t have the ‘lived experience’, my perspective is limited.

What I do know and what is appalling is that, tragically police still record thousands of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation every year, and many incidents are never reported at all. Most of us will never have to think about whether holding our partner’s hand in public might attract abuse. Some people still do.

We’ve come a long way that is very clear. Far further than anyone growing up gay fifty years ago could reasonably have imagined. People can marry the person they love. They can build families, serve in the Armed Forces, run businesses, sit on parish councils, become teachers, doctors and police officers without having to hide who they are. That’s something Britain should be proud of. But for many people who enjoy and indeed need Pride the journey is not over. Pride is a small part of their struggle, but it is a struggle that we as a community can make easier by taking part.

That seems reason enough to spend one day, even one hour a year saying they belong here too. Because when you strip away all the noise on social media, that’s what Beverley Pride actually is. It’s a local event organised by volunteers, funded through sponsorship and donations, celebrating the simple idea that everyone should feel welcome in their own town.

If you don’t fancy going, nobody’s making you. But I urge all similarly foagies like myself to pop along and spend some cash. Not to make a political statement, and certainly not because you’ve suddenly discovered a taste for glitter. Simply because I think decent people should support other decent people.

Beverley is at its best when everyone feels it’s their town. I can’t see much wrong with that.