Well they were all there. The bars and the clubs with lorry loads of young skinny dancers in skimpy shorts. The bears' lorry with over-large men in tight T-Shirts and wedding dresses (wedding dresses could have been a theme this year) dancing to the high energy hits of yester year. We had the police and the fire and ambulance services. More nurses than you could shake a catheter at and, of course, the drag queens. What would Pride be without drag queens? We had one sitting in the bucket of a JCB. We had drag queens on stilts, drag queens in wedding dresses (natch), we had The Queen in a roller (like that's never been done before) and, hurrah, we had the Salford Ladies Temperance Union Society. What a sight they were in their twin sets and pearls carrying banners reading "sodomy stinks" and "rings were made for fingers". And what useful placards too as they doubled up as weapons for hitting people who didn't come up to their exacting standards (mainly bar and club boys in skimpy shorts). The Selfridges lorry was stunning, the Prairie Dogs line dancers were all in time and some Hippy McHippy with rainbow dreadlocks was trying to charge everyone £4.99 for a very very small rainbow flag.
I got quite emotional this year (and who wouldn't faced with all the above) remembering Prides past in Manchester, London and, best of all, Brighton. How many Prides do we all have left (see earlier debate)? And will they ever change? I hope not. Oh for those sweaty afternoons in the cabaret tent laughing with (at) the "acts". Figster will know where I'm coming from on this. And to make it all worse, the headliner this year in Manchester is Mark Almond. My back can't take any more standing around though and without alcohol it'll just sound like he's singing out of tune.... Happy Pride everyone. J x
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