The Culture of Pride ...

Originally posted on www.gailymail.co.uk

So pride season was just upon us with every gay from every corner of Great Britain coming out to show that there’s no shame in being gay. Pride is an important day for anyone from the LGBT community as it reminds us just how far our community has come in the last 40 years, and reminds us of events such as the Stonewall riots and those people who started the fight for equality and helped make the world a better place for us today.

I have attended a few prides over the last few years like many other people from around the country and the world, and last week I was lucky enough to attend the pride festivities in Manchester for their 21st birthday.

What pride shows me is that no matter what through the wind, rain and what ever other type of weather Britain throws at us the gay community is still prepared to get together and celebrate the fact that society is now a much safer and all round better place for us. Over the few days or in some cases weeks in which pride is celebrated every year you see people from all walks of life come together and act as one. It doesn’t matter whether you’re male, female, gay, straight, bisexual or transgendered as everyone unites and shows just how comfortable they are with their sexuality and, we mustn’t forget, have a few drinks like you would at any other celebration.

Pride isn’t just for the gays either these days, as more and more families and our supporters come together and show their solidarity to help fight for what is right, and in the process have a good time.

The pride that we know and love today started not long after the Stonewall riots, which changed everything for the gay community as it showed others that we were here and we were going to fight for our rights. In June 1970 the first Pride march was held in New York and became the first of an extended annual LGBT pride celebration. Since then Pride has continued to grow and there are pride marches and parades all over the world. The first Pride in the UK was in 1972 in London and that has continued to grow and grow over the last 40 years, and has also spawned prides all over Great Britain.

Some people today seem to think that pride isn’t as important as it once was, and have a perception that that the fight has been won and everything is OK. But the truth of the matter is, that isn’t the case. Every year we hear about children being bullied at school because they are gay or because they have been perceived to be gay, and there have been a number of high profile cases where young people have taken their own lives because of this. There is still a negative attitude from a number of people in today’s society who still seem to think that being gay is a lifestyle choice and that we don’t deserve the same rights as they do. Well we do, and pride is a time for people to get together and continue to help fight against this negativity that in some quarters is sill prevalent.

Whilst at Manchester Pride I also learnt that they had raised over £800,000 over the last few years to help charities based within the gay community, such as those dealing with HIV, which itself is reason enough for pride to carry on and help the community.

Pride is a hugely important piece of our history and by maintaining its presence over the years has aided not only the people that these charities have helped, but also many people from around the world who may have felt alone yet have come to realise that there are people just like them everywhere. It also helps to give a sense of belonging and togetherness to our community, because for years we were considered unequal and were used as scapegoats for society’s malaise, so with the help of gay pride and the constant campaigning that surrounds the celebrations, we as a community have helped empower ourselves the world over.

Pride season may be over for now and the rainbow flags and whistles have probably been confined to the drawer for another year, but just remember next year to go along to pride and show support for your community and everyone who has helped get us to this stage. You don’t have to wear pink feather boas and rainbow flags to show your support … but it’s all part of the fun.

Icons: Judy Garland

Originally posted on www.differentscene.co.uk

As a new feature for Different Scene we will be profiling icons in the gay world. These people are often cited as being huge gay icons for numerous different reasons, whether it be because of their political stance, the way they’ve helped change the gay landscape or just because they have been adopted by the gay community for another reason, either way they are all extremely well known to members of the gay community.

For our first feature we look at a woman who is regularly cited as the greatest gay icon of all time, Judy Garland. Through her pain and suffering and ups and downs in both her personal and professional life, Judy is a huge star of times past and still in many people’s opinions, the greatest gay icon of all time.

Starting her life off as Francis Ethel Gumm, Judy started performing at the tender age of two and would do so for the remainder of her life. After years of performing on the stage with her sisters she was soon snapped up by MGM where she joined their roster of young talent. While here she forged a name for herself whilst staring alongside Mickey Rooney in a hand full of films, but it was a little film she made in 1939 that would cement her fame and ensure that she would forever be remembered.

That little film was The Wizard of Oz, a film that everyone around the world knows, and it was this film that provided Judy with her signature song for which she will always be remembered, Over the Rainbow.

It was this film that many consider to be the reason why Garland has become synonymous with the gay community. Her escape over the rainbow from the drab darkness of reality to a place full of colour and different people who didn’t fit society’s norms reflected the feeling of the gay community at the time, who were being repressed as homosexuality was still illegal, and for many years gay men were known as friends of Dorothy.

The film has become a lasting success and even won Judy a Juvenile Academy Award. But it was after this that things started to go bad for the young Garland.

After years of being over worked by the studios things started to take their toll on her, and she was dropped from the studio in 1946 following accounts of bad behaviour on film sets, drug use, suicide attempts and her fluctuating weight. These problems would go on to plague the former child star for the remainder of her days.

However through the pain and suffering Garland continued to bounce back, with sell out concert performances around the world and an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe win for her role in A Star Is Born. It was in the early 1960s when Garland truly bounced back with her performance at Carnegie sHall that is often cited by many to be the greatest night in show business history. The live recording of her performance spent week at the top of Billboard album charts and won Garland numerous Grammy awards, the album has not been out of print since.

Things looked good for her but through the success her failed marriages and other personal problems, which still included suicide attempts and drug and alcohol abuse continued to plague her, and after the cancellation of her television show, many regarded this to have been the final devastating blow to her.

Then in 1969 after years of torment and anguish Garland was found dead in her bathroom at her rented Chelsea home in London, where she had died of an overdose.

Like the 1960s version of Amy Winehouse, Garland was a true talent whose star burnt bright but burnt out ever so quickly.

Looking back on it now you can see why Judy has become such a prolific gay icon, her suffering and torment as a woman in a mans world emulated the suffering that gay men at the time were experiencing for not fitting the norm, and it has often been widely rumoured that Garland’s death was one of the triggers to the Stonewall riots back in 1969, but that is still just a myth.