THE BIG ISSUE
How a pandemic and George Floyd’s death put the protest back into Pride
A global pandemic meant that trans rights, Black Lives Matter and the Gay Liberation Front took centre stage over commercialisation and
clubbing, returning Pride to its protest roots in its 50th year “Just in time for Pride month, Black Lives Matter protests erupted”
In conversation with various friends, a recurring theme regarding the impact of lockdown emerged. Being forced to slow down and withdraw to our homes offered a chance for rest and respite, as well as the opportunity to reflect on what really matters.
But as Pride celebrations, such as UK Black Pride, Pride in London and others around the UK announced the postponement of their annual events, the death toll continued to rise. Data began to emerge about the disproportionate impact of COVID- 19 and the attendant lockdown on black people, older people and homeless LGBTQ youth.
Many of us, glued to social media, watched in real time as our government fumbled its response to the virus amid growing calls for accountability and the truth about the toll COVID- 19 would exact on different communities and vulnerable groups.
Then, after almost three months in lockdown and just in time for Pride month, Black Lives Matter protests erupted around the world in response to the murder of George Floyd.
As the protests grew in frequency, size and volume, marked by calls to defund and abolish the police, comparisons – or reminders – were drawn between the Black Lives Matter movement and the Stonewall Riots.
On that fateful night of 28 June, 1969, the police raided the Stonewall Inn. A punch was thrown by cis- gendered lesbian Stormé
DeLarvarie and a riot exploded after the LGBTQ community reacted to decades of police oppression and harassment.
The recent Black Lives Matters protests have become the largest civil rights movement in history, and Pride month provided the perfect backdrop for discussions about how interconnected various struggles for liberation and equality are, both here in the UK and around the world.
On 27 June, I joined the Gay Liberation Front ( GLF) march from Regent Street to Trafalgar Square, marking 50 years since the very first Pride and the foundation of the British GLF in October 1970. Also marching were early GLF activists Andrew Lumsden, Stephen Clissold, Nettie Pollard, Peter Tatchell and original Bloolips performers Lavinia Co- op and Bette Bourne, who all put the threat of COVID- 19 aside to be present for this important anniversary. While there I had the opportunity to speak with Theodore ‘ Ted’ Brown, the mastermind of Black Lesbians and Gays Against Media Homophobia and an early GLF member.
“There are people I know who haven’t come because of the [ COVID- 19] risk. We are predominantly an older group, but we felt this [ the 50th anniversary] was too important to miss. It’s still very important for people to realise how long we’ve been fighting and the achievements we’ve made,” said Ted. For him, protesting, marching and educating is what Pride is supposed to be about. “Pride has always been about having our [ black] voices heard.”
Ted is passionate about the parallels between the Black Lives Matter and GLF movements: “This, indeed, is full circle. Racism and homophobia rely upon spreading vicious lies, seriously denigrating and removing the rights of their victims. [ In 1970], Huey Newton [ then leader of the Black Panther Party] called people together and told them that gay people could be even more revolutionary and were fighting the same fight as the black community.”
“Early GLF activists put the threat of COVID- 19 aside to be present for this
important anniversary”
Ted’s eyes glow as he recalls the GLF’s achievements. “[ It’s rewarding] to alert the younger people of the forces that would still like to take our rights away.”
Ted asked if I was attending the Black Trans Lives Matter protest also happening that day, and he nodded with a warm smile as I confirmed
I’d be there. I was moved by my encounter and conversation with Ted. There was a man, now in his seventh decade, who has been fighting for so long and has experienced such hardship, taking to the streets during a pandemic at considerable risk to himself to stand up for what’s right.
Also in the crowd at the GLF march was
Ashley Joiner, director of the documentary Are You Proud?. “It’s a great opportunity to promote intergenerational learning,” says Ashley when asked why he has joined the GLF veterans today. “[ The GLF] have been campaigning for more than 50 years and there are many of us taking up activism for the first time; we have so much to learn from them. They have this incredible experience, and we have this new energy. The two combined is a great way forward.”
On the 50th anniversary of Pride, Black Trans Lives Matter and GLF marches across London struck a chord with those early Prides of the 1970s and 1980s. There were no floats, no big brands, no paid celebrities or loud remixed pop music. LGBTQ+ people and our allies marched with very clear, politically motivated reasons and demands. And it was here that I began to understand what has been missing from mainstream Pride parades for so long. At the Black Trans Lives matter and GLF marches, it wasn’t about blind allegiance to vague progress for a few; it was a reminder that whatever progress we think we’ve made as a community, many are still fighting tooth and nail to be free.
I spoke to Lili, a black trans woman living in London and a Soho hostess who painted a picture of how Pride looks from her perspective: “[ Observing Pride] over the past ten years, there’s limited space to care about black inclusion during Pride. Pride feels increasingly like white gay men jumped ship, got their life- rafts and just left the rest of us fighting for survival – you see them, carefree, topless, waving a branded Pride flag [ on branded floats]. It’s those very brands that do not employ trans people, have zero senior people of colour on their boards. It’s heart- breaking. Yet, today it feels like everyone here cares about our collective wellbeing. All black lives matter, not just the ones you are comfortable with. It’s been emotional.”
“Whatever progress we think we’ve made as a community, many are still fighting to be free”
The week before the Pride anniversary, on Saturday 20th June, LGBTQ people joined the Black Lives Matter protest to highlight the movement’s queer voices, gathering in Trafalgar Square in a desire for change that is sweeping the UK.
Two weeks later, on Saturday 4th July, thousands gathered to join trans activists
Shaira Bambi, Asterisk Ravensbourne, Torrel, Kate Gladwell and others in a rally in London’s Parliament Square, to speak out against the government’s gradual back- tracking of trans rights. Their demands included that the results of the 2018 public consultation on the reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 must be respected in any reformation of the act, and that the right to self- identification be safeguarded and streamlined, as it is crucial for keeping transgender people safe. They also called for any reform of the rights of transgender under- 18s to be carried out in consultation with specialist charities and professional bodies; for the promotion of gender- neutral and inclusive spaces including toilets; and for official recognition of chosen pronouns and gender markers used by non- binary people.
Despite the horrors of the COVID- 19 pandemic, most of us have had time to pause and engage with the sometimes brutal content we’ve seen on our social feeds and in the news, and contemplate issues in a way that our usually hectic 9- 5 working week might not have allowed us to before. We’ve had time to think and listen.
These recent Pride marches and protests and the Black Lives Matter movement build upon the template set by the civil rights movement, and it was powerful to experience the two coming together once again. This grassroots, no- frills and deeply political approach to Pride owes a lot to the pandemic and to the recent uprising from the Black Lives Matter movement. Collectively, people have started to question their role, participation and influence in a world built on conscious and subconscious bias, racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia and its detrimental impact on the people and communities that don’t conform to a white- cis, hetero- male- centred culture.
I hope this defining moment has taught us that progress for the few is not liberation for all. We must continue to be proactive to ensure that everyone in our many communities gets the freedom that is the birthright of us all.
“Pride increasingly feels like white gay men jumped ship, got their life- rafts and just left the rest of us fighting for survival”