York LGBT+ community this year decided to hold their celebration as an opportunity for a review of what future Pride events should be like. Everyone had the chance to offer, discuss, and write their ideas, as well as process through York with friends, family, and supporters, carrying banners and placards, with amazing costumes and colours, to an open area with lots of carnival rides, food stalls , entertainment stages for singers, drag queens, poets, actors, comedians and choirs, and tents full of groups, activities, attractions, books, and opportunities.
There were babes in arms and pushchairs, groups of teenagers by the dozens, toddlers with parents in pursuit, and assorted ages avoiding parental control. Many elderly and less mobile people were in wheelchairs or wielding their sticks or rollators as they made their way across the grass, and whole family units were joining up for picnics on the grass as the weather decided to be kind and the sun shone. Music circulated from both stages, the scent of donuts and burgers drifted across, and a long queue formed outside the Portal Bookshop stall, York’s LGBTQIA, fantasy and science fiction books provider, where I made a speedy early visit.
There were some stalls that might sound unexpected. I found the Quakers – the Society of Friends – welcoming all people, with stickers given freely, brightly coloured, supporting the LGBTQIA COMMUNITY.

I had a conversation with a member who was keen to express his support, and another member, an older lady, welcomed me as she too had worn white poppies and been in CND, as I had.
The Trans community have their own publication called Transmuted, and I was able to speak to Dorian Rose, the Editor and now Director. In the past, York Pride hadn’t really done anything for its members, and the time had definitely come to abandon the ‘old boss’ system, and grow again from the bottom up. I have read several previous issues of Transmuted, and it’s full of poems, articles, stories, and a great many opinions!
Another person I met was Kara, who instantly told me how important it was to be in a space where they were accepted. People just like her were there across the entire area, and it was wonderful!
My final comment came from Grace, who said that the different groups were very interconnected, there were so many people there that she kept running into ones she knew already, as well as making new friends too. This was her fifth Pride event, public support was greater. The people were wonderful, incredible, she was happy to be there, the best year yet.
The event kept running non stop right through the afternoon, starting before the column of marchers even arrived. People turned up in a steady stream, encouraged by good weather, and plenty of choices for entertainment for all ages. Little flags and fluffy toys, multi coloured garlands and extremely large stuffed creatures were being displayed by just about every one who passed by, costumes ranged from extraordinary to, well, ultra extraordinary, and the queues for freshly cooked donuts and burgers never faltered.
Good positive smiles and comments were all I saw and heard – even amongst parents with apparent multitudes of children! And York Radio attended to broadcast and provide equipment to assist the event, but I saw no heavy-footed commercialisation tramping about or pushing in.
Definitely an event I shall attend again, without waiting for an invite!



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