Pride celebrations are set to take over Liverpool this weekend.
The annual March with Pride parade, followed by the Pride in Liverpool festival, will see the city come together to stand against bigotry and hatred. The streets will be flooded with rainbow colours, sparkles and glam, with thousands of members from the LGBTQIA+ community, allies and supporters taking part.
Ahead of the events happening this Saturday, July 30, the ECHO spoke with members of the community who will be there celebrating, dancing, laughing and creating memories.
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John Cullen, originally from Wirral, has been attending Pride in Liverpool for five years now and joked he plans to celebrate it so much this year that he booked the following Monday off work months ago "just to recover." Asked what Pride means to him, John told the ECHO it “symbolises the recognition of the struggle for quality that the LGBTQ+ community has faced for several generations."
The 28-year-old said: “It's extremely important to remember those that came before us and fought for the liberation of the LGBT+ community. To remember those who provided us with a voice when at one point in our lives we felt we didn't necessarily have one. Ultimately, Pride allows individuals to express their authentic selves. It allows us to recognise what makes each individual uniquely different, but more importantly what unites us.”
The civil servant said we “live in a current political climate where people are quick to segregate and point out what makes us different,” and Pride makes for the perfect opportunity to “embrace variety, celebrate differences and most important of all, be inclusive.”
He added: “My favourite memory of Pride has to be the first Pride that I went to. I was very nervous as I didn’t know what to expect and I had only recently come out to my family, but they wanted to come along.
"I met my friends and we all took part in the march and I spent the afternoon with my family. That was fun and civilised and when my family left that’s when I and my friends were a little more boisterous. This year I’m looking forward to celebrating it with loved ones, making new friends, creating new memories and just having a great time in general.”
Amanda Hilton feels the same as John. This will be the 51-year-old’s second Pride and she intends to “make up for lost time” after the pandemic-affected celebrations last year. The lawyer, from Newton-le-Willows, said: “For my first Pride, I watched the parade assemble on St George's Plateau and a choir sang 'This is me' from The Greatest Showman. I was still just coming out and attended incognito. The passion of that song and what it meant to those singing it resonated with me. I recall people mingling stopping to watch.
"It was so organic and natural. It reinforced that I wouldn't be alone going forward. This year, I’m looking forward to being me within my community in my home town but in a wider context hopefully giving the city an opportunity to say loudly we are welcoming to all.”
After the rise in reports of homophobic and transphobic attacks last summer, Amanda argued Pride was even more “vital” this year. She added: “Pride started as a demonstration. With the current issues both nationally and locally it's incumbent on our community to come together as one, support each other and importantly allow the wider community to show their support. I remain totally convinced that the vast majority support our community but a loud small minority is setting the agenda. We need to change that focus.”
Echoing a similar sentiment was 24-year-old Louise Berryman. The former zoology student at Liverpool John Moores University said: “It’s never been more important for this community to come together and show our support for trans rights and how disgusting it is to exclude them from the ban. In relation to the incidents in Liverpool as well it’s also so important to show that we are not afraid and attacks will not stop our community from coming together and celebrating who we are.”
The admin assistant, originally from Northern Ireland, has been wearing rainbow-themed outfits to Pride celebrations for seven years now. Travelling between Belfast, Liverpool and Manchester’s celebrations, Louise said: “Pride means everything to me.”
She added: “It's an opportunity to express yourself and embrace your identity and others in a safe environment. As a Bi woman in a relationship with a man, it’s not often that I would truly get to celebrate my sexuality but Pride really allows me to embrace that part of myself and not care what biphobic people have to say.”
This will be Ryan Joshua Griffiths's second Pride in Liverpool. Originally from Essex, the 22-year-old who lives in the Baltic Triangle, loves this time of year as they can “unapologetically express myself with no regard given to gender roles and expression.” However, they believe more can be done to encourage the inclusion of people of colour.
Agreeing with that was Molly Green. The postgraduate researcher, who lives in Anfield, told the ECHO : “Pride in various cities helps to show that there is a community that is all about inclusion, especially for those who may think they are alone or excluded or won’t be accepted. I think it’s still very important to stress the inclusion of everyone in Pride, especially since exclusion within the LGBTQ+ community still happens exists.” What the 25-year-old originally from Chester enjoys most about Pride is being able to share and relate to others who have gone through the same experience as her, whether that be coming out or facing homophobia.
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