(Above (right) Mr Peter Tatchell, Human Rights Campaigner & (left) Malcolm Lidbury (aka PinkPasty) Cornwall HIV/AIDS & Gay Equality Campaigner)
CORNWALL GAY PRIDE 2009 (UK)
WHAT A DAY!.... WHAT A DAY!!!
The Cornwall Pride 2009 committee organisers & stewards must be (and should be) most proud & to be congratulated on their considerable notable achievement & success!
Gay Pride is very important too me. Back in 1994, I had organised through the gay ICT publication a Cornwall Gay PRIDE night at the Op’s room, near Camborne, (One hundred & forty four people attended as was featured in Boyz publication & Pink Paper). Then there were LGBT pride fetes held on private farm land in Cornwall through out the 1990’s (as featured in Gay Times Magazine,) organised in conjunction with the ICT, but primarily by the gay women of Cornwall. Remember this was when the authorities in Cornwall barely bothered to hide their homophobic attitudes.
In 2007, we had the hastily organised Cornwall Gay Pride BEACH DAY of which I was chairperson, sadly over shadowed by Cornwall police incompetence & their gay homophobic prejudice & the now police acknowledged FALSE allegation made. My own dear departed Andy’s Rainbow Flag, which had covered his coffin in 1996, had fluttered proudly above Gay Pride Hayle Beach day in 2007, which had almost been cancelled due to Cornwall police….but the sun had shone down on the day, which was a great success! Unfortunately, the committee disbanded shortly after due to continuing concerns of Cornwall police homophobia.
Regrettably, last year it had been made clear to me & some other vocal outspoken gay equality campaigning persons that we as gay persons were NOT welcome at Pride Cornwall 2008. This primarily due to the high police input & presence involved. This hostility towards myself & others had been as a result of a combination of Cornwall police continuing ingrained homophobia & malice & some gay peoples ignorance of the facts.
This year 2009….well a BLOODY HUGE rainbow flag made its way through the very heart of Truro Cornwall ….now that is progress!
First, on a personal note, I could not have attended this year Cornwall Pride without Sue, Sue2 & Jay, my three dear escort careers for the day. Suffering, as I do now from agoraphobia & severe disabling panic attacks, following the homophobic attacks upon my home & property & the continued Cornwall police prejudicial abuse targeted at myself.
However, the ever-hovering presence of my dutiful careers made it possible for me too be at Cornwall Pride 2009! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
The Day started with assembly of the Marchers on Lemon Quay, Truro…
I was nervous…not out of concern for homophobia from the public…but the internal homophobia that has been directed at me by some gay people in Cornwall in recent years (and they know who they are!) as a result of five years intense Cornwall police homophobic discrimination & prejudice directed at me. However, I had in my pocket a letter from the Cornwall police (DC Parker CID) ADMITTING an allegation made against me had been FALSE…that too was a source of great strength for the day!
Another personal driving force to attend was knowing Peter Tatchell was to be there.
I do not have many celebrity heroes, but amongst those I do are the likes of Mahatma Ghandi, Dr Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela….& Peter Tatchell
As a minor regional backwater HIV/AIDS & gay equality campaigner myself for two decades, I have corresponded on equality issues with Peter Tatchell, over the last fifteen years or so, but had never met him. It takes enormous courage to be like Mr Tatchell, always being the first out of the trenches, always to be the pioneer, breaking ground for others to follow and often slipped a metaphorical knife in the back by those very same gay persons who are enjoying the very fruits of gay campaigner’s labours. I have always been proud of my personally having been called the “Peter Tatchell” of Cornwall by the local Cornwall press back in the 1990’s.
The parade seemed to me to go off completely faultlessly, the massive Rainbow flag making a beautiful colourful mark right down the mainstreet of Truro. When I think of the Cornwall county councillors I can name who have opposed gay equality & gay health care in Cornwall over the past twenty years…this truly was progress in Cornwall!
On to Truro Victoria Park, this little gem of a public space which even many locals are unaware of. I used to eat my lunchtime sandwiches here back in the 1980’s and often there would be nobody else in the Park on a beautiful sunny summer day. Well not so this Saturday, it was packed & the park was beautiful as ever (thank you the Truro city gardeners, as someone who formerly ran an Amenity Horticultural business before the police homophobically destroyed it, I really appreciated the high standard of maintenance & up keep of the park & flower beds, truly lovely).
It has to mentioned that despite the hundreds & hundreds of people present there in Truro Victoria park on Saturday there was so very little litter…and it MUST be mentioned, the Pride steward who was on litter duty...busy, busy, busy, ALL DAY…he just did not STOP!!
Peter Tatchell’s photographer had not shown up...so Peter asked me to take some photos for him...errr, sorry about those; I am no Robert Mapplethorpe it would seem :-)
There was live entertainment from the bandstand all afternoon, plus the presence of the ‘Gay Gordans’ who made everyone smile with their dancing reels & twirls, which in some off their enthusiasm revealed that its true about what they say about what is worn under a kilt.... nothing!? Oweeer!
My confidence grew over the day as I hugged, kissed & meet people, some of whom I had not seen in years, some I had not seen in over a decade. As I tallied up the increasing number of friendly faces & warmth shown towards me by old lost friends, my confidence continued to grow over the day. I even made peace with one or two who had let me down very badly in the past.
Unless you have been subjected to homophobic motivated violent assaults, physical abuse & threats, false accusation, attacks upon your home & attacks upon your vehicles, homophobia, corruption & dishonesty from Cornwall police, destruction of your businesses, refused health care, (even refused support from local Gay organisations…and I still spit with contempt on the Intercom Trust!)... As I have in the past few years, instigated by Cornwall police misconduct, you can have no idea as to the traumatising affect, the destruction of ones trust in people, & the debilitating impact, hence the development of my agoraphobia & panic attacks in recent years.
I deliberately avoided the Devon & Cornwall police stand & LGBT PACT, but was grateful that Martin P came over and spoke with me. I hope he & other members of LGBT- PACT do take up my offer made to hear first hand the reality of Cornwall police homophobic abuses over the past few years & the continued corruption of Cornwall police in NOT dealing with the legitimate complaints.
That said, the regular uniformed bobbies on duty were clearly trying bloody hard to be friendly. I almost choked on my coffee when a copper spoke to me asking if “I” (me???) was having a nice day. My careers, in sheer devilment wanted to take a photo of me ‘taking tea’ with a Cornwall police officer… It did not happen & not gonna happen till someone senior in Devon & Cornwall Constabulary starts to recognise & take responsibility for the catalogue of homophobic abuses which have been carried out by named & identifiable serving Cornwall police officers over the past few years in Cornwall & the likes of diversity officer PC Cannon STOP’s trying to cover up for his homophobic police mates by telling me to be quiet!!
We lounged & chatted in the sun, caught up & discussed this & that, friends past & no longer with us some having died & slipped off this mortal coil,…because Pride is for the memory too and others whom we dearly wished had been there but have gone away and could not share with us, in what was a BLOODY GOOD gay pride day in Cornwall 2009.
Sadly, I know very well numbers of gay persons DRIVEN from Cornwall by homophobic attitudes in the very recent past, mainly by continued ingrained homophobic attitudes & practises within Cornish authorities (not least the police)...despite what they may say & portray publicly!
Late in the afternoon we drifted from the Victoria Park and the four of us went for an evening meal, before returning to the city centre & the Marquee evening entertainment in Lemon Quay.
£10...just £10….Well what can I say…the entertainment started on stage….and just flowed, smoothly and it appeared completely seamless. Huge respect to the stagehand organisers & techies & performers, it was polished, it was professional & even the beer was cold at the bar! That was one of the best £10 spent on entertainment in my life! It glided along like a serene and regal swan (it may well have been paddling like furry underneath but it did not show), the affect was a highly polished event & every performance…in my opinion, but then (lol) I don’t get out much!
My one grumble…but to be fair beyond the immediate control of the Pride organisers…the absolutely disgusting & disgraceful state of the public toilets on Lemon Quay (even before the concert started). They stank, they were filthy, there were no lights & it was a disgrace of lack of public hygiene, but beyond the control of the pride organisers I believe!
The evening entertainment in the Marquee ended as it had begun, professionally & polished!
I had managed in growing confidence over the evening to wander about on my own & give my careers time to enjoy themselves as I was never out of visual contact with someone I knew.
After Lemon Quay , onwards to ‘Kinky Rhino’. Another factor in my attending Pride had been the personal invite by Abbie to attend ‘Kinky Rhino’. Thank you Abbie…as my not being welcome elsewhere, the knowing I was welcome at Kinky Rhino was another key ingredient in my being able to attend Cornwall Gay Pride 2009. Held at the one-eyed cat, more live music, more old friends bumped into, more hugs & kisses….
We eventually returned at some ungodly hour of the morning to the 15th Century Manor house where I was staying the night to hold a brief synopsis on the days events over coffee before bed… just before the birds began to sing.
Was Cornwall Gay Pride 2009 good for me...Yes!
Congratulations & full praise to the 2009 Cornwall Gay Pride committee & organisers.
My criticism of the organised event from start to finish..None!
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