‘Best-ever’ Birmingham Pride sees hope triumph over hate

Equalities May 29 2019

Birmingham Pride saw the “best attendance ever from our union,” over the weekend, reports CWU Midlands Secretary Kate Hudson.

“Our region held our women’s and equality committee the day before, and reps and activists came here from other areas,” she explained. “The committee meeting in the morning was followed up by an LGBTQ education and awareness-raising session.

“And so the next morning,” Kate continues, “after these activities plus the evening social, we all knew each other when we marched off to Pride.”

In specially designed ‘CWU PRIDE’ T-shirts, and accompanied by our very own Hopemobile, our union once again made a lively – and loud – contribution to the day’s celebration.

“We set off from Victoria Square and headed down to Brmingham’s gay quarter in Hurst Street,” Kate says, adding that, altogether, “there were thousands on the parade.

“And our Hopemobile  was blasting out a great selection of classics and dance tunes, which all added to the really positive and cheerful atmosphere.”

The overall attendance was up this year as well – by an estimated 20 per cent – and our Midlands Secretary puts this partly down to the local controversy in the Birmingham area caused by homophobic protests taking place at some schools.

“With all the hate around at the moment, I think people welcomed the opportunity to just come together and enjoy themselves,” she said.

Once the marchers arrived at Hurst Street, some went into the official Pride Festival show – which this year featured 1980s icons the Human League and Marc Almond – while others continued the fun in the streets outside.

“It was brilliant this year – Birmingham Pride’s always great, but this year was the best, plus we had members present for the first time who now want to know more about the CWU and getting involved.”