Griffyn Gilligan
On Saturday, June 27 this year, I forgot it was pride until 5 PM
But I still did the sort of thing that the good queer, trans, punk-ish boys my age are supposed to do on those sorts of days. Three things:
[1.] I woke up late. Like, 2 PM.
[2.] I took out my clippers, which I haven’t used in two years, and I did a messier version of this [point to head].
[3.] I went to the planetarium with a boy and sat on the hill in Greenwich, distinctively away from pride,and then went home with him.
And, on the way home, we passed kids in t-shirts reading “Some people are gay, get over it”
And then we saw the same thing on stickers on lampposts and the pavement and the little video signs they have on the Bank station escalator
And when the station was crowded with tons of people with rainbow flags and glitter
I sat in the back row of the DLR and scoffed at them.
Then, days later, I felt a little bad about that, because I’ve never actually been to pride – that’s physically closest I’ve ever been to a pride parade by far.
So, I went on Twitter, and I began to sift through #prideinlondon. Here’s what I found:
Amnesty UK LGBTI
Ministry of Defence
Bear Grylls
Polo Bar
The Law Society
Simply Beautiful
Smirnoff
Tower Hamlets
Pink News
NHS Employer
Peccadillo Pictures
Breast Cancer Care
Warner Bros. UK
Villandry Grand Cafe
Danny Palmer – repesenting Google, Microsoft, Dell and EMC
LSE (London School of Economics)
Mayor’s Press Office
Aaron John Bastani
Crowds bewildered as queer activists don’t stick to script.#Pride2015 #PrideinLondon
Feref PR
The London Eye
Android
Terrence Higgins Trust
Google UK
Giraffee Restaurant
Barnardo’s
London Live
Wandsworth LGBT
Seenit
LGBT Labour
London Assembly
City Police LGBT
Young Independence
@ukiplgbt where banned from marching in London Pride today. They proudly marched anyway. #PrideinLondon #Pride2015
[Image of four young gay men, each carrying a sign reading, “Some gays are UKIP/Get over it”]
GMC
Pickett (store)
MPS Events
Sternberg Clarke
Nadler Hotelsf
St John Ambulance
Marie Curie
Rupert Street Bar
Circle Housing
AndyForLeader
Collaborate for Rights
Charlotte Tarrant
The Punch Tavern
The London Eye
Aaron John Bastani @AaronBastani Jun 27
There is coffin to represent fact that #PrideinLondon is now a company, literally, not demonstration of identity
[image: Pride – Whose side are we on? LGBTQI…| Commercialisation]
[Rainbow Cash Machine]
Hoxton Grill
Wembley Staduim
Lloyds Bank Business
British Transport Police
Barclays
Fujitsu Global UK
Sky Bigger Picture
Lloyds Banking Group]
Carve Productions
Addison Lee
UK Scout Association
A Londoner’s London
15 year old son exploring his gender identity. What better place to bring him than @LondonLGBTPride – London should be proud
Uber
Barclaycard
Twiris UK
BBC Pride
London Southbank University
The View From the Shard
Newzulu
Mainline Menswear
Escort Chaps
Cruzon Soho
V&A
Evolve Events
HSBC UK
Heathrow Airport
Fuck you. [Looks to side] Sorry, babe. Not you. I’m just on Twitter.
NCAFC LGBTQ
The march is over – we took back Pride as our protest! #Pride #PrideLDNParade #pride2015 #PrideinLondon #reclaimPride
Four Images:
- [Seize the Banks/Fund the NHS]
- [Victory to the Strike! Compensation Now!]
- [Free Education/Homes for All/Migrant Rites/End Austerity/Save and Fund the NHS]
- [Tax the Rich]
Link: Dan Glass:
“R.I.P. Pride Funeral breaks into protest and leads the London LGBT Pride march ahead of Barclays and chases UKIP off Pride.
“A coalition of individuals belonging to LGBTQI communities and holding a ‘Pride Funeral’ procession, broke through barriers at Oxford Circus to lead this year’s London LGBT Pride Parade. Coffin bearers, flag wavers, banner holders, an undertaker and a samba band sounding a slow funereal beat, all resisted security and stewards who attempted to physically remove them from the street. With flags baring messages of solidarity, politics, freedom and anti-commercialisation, RIP Pride activists solemnly strode the route section from Oxford Circus toward Embankment, until its final destination at the foot of Whitehall. The group’s action was one of sombre defiance against the fee that Pride organisers now charge those who want a place on the historically significant LGBT parade.
“Dan Laverick a mourner at ‘RIP Pride’ said: “We’re here to remember what Pride started as, and its radical legacy. We’re also here to protest against what it has become. I’m here to grieve over the soulless corporate character of ‘Pride in London’, which has nothing to say about LGBTQI issues today such as 1 in 4 homeless people in the UK being from our community, the people seeing services upon which they depend cut as part of the austerity agenda (3), or the loss of queer spaces in London to property developers serving an international elite (4). To invite a party like UKIP which attacks migrants, people living with HIV, homosexuals, and any other vulnerable minority as it suits them, was the final nail in the coffin (5).”
“Dan Glass a mourner at ‘RIP Pride’ said: “It was so great to see Pride return to it’s roots as a protest rather than just a parade (6). Pride should have strong political principles with equality for everyone at it’s heart not just big business or any organisation who wishes to milk the LGBTQI community dry. Our demand is that the organisation of Pride becomes democratic: decision-making power should be taken away from the current unrepresentative, largely corporate Board and an LGBTQIA assembly should be established, to decide the theme and direction for Pride in 2016 and onwards.
“
Thank you.
Griffyn Gilligan
First read at Reading the Internet: Something Other
22 July 2015
Something Other 