Last week, I was accused on the Tribune website of “typical bias from a middle-class, southern-based journalist”. Now, I could have pulled up my southern drawbridge and retrenched – after all, when you look at the spelling of my accuser, it’s clear they must be from the north of England. Instead, though, I filled my little southern jalopy with petrol and bravely embarked on a trip to “the North”. (Driving from Oxford,
I think you officially hit “the North” somewhere beyond Banbury service station.) Destination Liverpool.
Actually, it’s a trip I make quite frequently, for personal reasons. You see, contrary to popular opinion, I possess a bias towards the north – at least, that is where my significant other hails from – a delightful small fishing village on the Mersey, called Anfield.
I was there to help my friends in the north (I have more than one) mark Liverpool’s first-ever official Gay Pride celebrations. The fact that this major cultural and political event was finally happening at all, a full 40 years after the world’s first-ever Gay Pride march took to the streets of New York, demonstrates clearly the continuing need to press forward with the equality agenda.
Unlike that first march in New York, which followed the legendary Stonewall riots when a group of drag queens kicked off their heels and fought back against persecution by New York police, Liverpool 2010 was as much a celebration of diversity as it was a reminder that human rights are universal and indivisible.
Perhaps because it was the city’s inaugural event of this kind, the sense of “pride” was tangible and by no means restricted to the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population. Lady Mayor Hazel Williams, who was quick to tell me that she is a Liberal and most definitely not a Liberal Democrat, could barely contain her own pride as she told me that: “Today is a visible sign in the heart of our city that community matters”. She was not talking about David Cameron’s airy-fairy “Big Society”, but about real people coming together to say no to Tory bullying, no to hate crime and no to the kind of cuts that will endanger the work of diverse organisations which make a day such as this happen in the first place.
This was certainly the message from the trade unions, which turned out in impressive numbers to ram home the message that we cannot afford to let Cameron and his Liberal Democrat whipping dogs turn back the clock. That’s a message which resonates as loudly in Liverpool, ravaged by Thatcherism, as any other city in the north.
You didn’t even have to be gay to carry the union banner. Steve Cook and Barbara Wade from Mersey Travel’s Unison branch were there simply to show their solidarity with “colleagues, family members and the city of Liverpool”. I thank them and others like them.
So, too, I’m sure, does the family of Michael Causer. Last year, 18-year-old Liverpudlian Causer was beaten and tortured during an incident investigated by the police as a homophobic attack. He died in hospital hours later of a massive blood clot on his brain. James O’Connor, also 18 at the time, was convicted of Causer’s murder. However, despite police evidence, the presiding judge accepted O’Connor’s plea that his attack on Causer was not motivated by homophobia.
Causer’s mother presented a picture of dignity as she marched alongside Liverpool’s Mayor. “I march with you both as first citizen and an ordinary mum and grandmother who is totally committed to equality for all”, said the Mayor before her arm fell off from waving too hard from the balcony of the town hall.
Liverpool’s organisers may have got their act together in the nick of time. There have been worrying indications from the Home Office that new Home Secretary Theresa May might attempt to water-down hate-crime legislation pushed through Parliament in the face of Tory opposition – hence the presence of the Socialist Workers Party, whose members never miss a good party, especially a free one, carrying banners demanding her sacking.
The only boos to be heard all day were directed at the marchers from the Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality.
There was no sign of the marvellously-named Anastasia Beaumont-Bott, their first chairperson, who declared earlier this year that she would be voting Labour following yet another anti-gay blunder by a frontbench Tory. It’s a pity she missed the opportunity to see the rainbow flag flying high above the town hall and other civic buildings in this fantastic city.
Of course, every event will have its detractors and there are still some who question the need for continuing pride celebrations.
“Why do you have to scream and dance through the streets about being gay or cross-gender? I thought your [sic] supposed to blend in and be accepted as who you are and not tell people: ‘Hey I’m gay’. I don’t see heterosexuals marching and dancing down the streets”, was one comment one on the Liverpool Echo’s website. No? Then he or she has obviously never been out in the city centre on a Friday night – or any night of the week, for the matter.
As we used to proclaim when marching against the hated Tory Clause 28: “We’re here, we’re queer and we’re not going shopping!”
