Carnival ‘banned’ 50 Shades of Gay charity

AN LGBT+ charity was banned from an annual carnival as a result of concerns over the name of its entry.

North Somerset LGBT+ Forum’s 50 Shades of Gay (a Celebration of Pride) aimed to pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the first UK Pride event.

But the Highbridge & Burnham-onsea carnival committee wrote to the charity on Oct 1 to say “there were concerns with how the public would react to the name” and it would “not allow” them to join the procession.

The letter also suggested they had broken county carnival rules related to self-promotion and sponsorship.

Sponsor Paul Stoodley said: “It’s definitely discrimination.”

The committee insisted the charity was not banned and any issues were due to carnival rules, not discrimination. The charity’s entry has already taken part at Bridgwater Carnival and is due to join processions in Glastonbury and Weston-super-mare later this month. Local councillor Ross Baker said he felt “disappointed, upset”.

A Forum spokesman said that it had been assured no rules had been broken, adding: “Burnham later backtracked and invited us to enter as a trade entry, or to enter as a charity but to change our entry name.

“We politely declined these offers.”