Pride
So this weekend was the Big Pride Weekend in Manchester. It was also my first Pride. Now wait a minute, I imagine I hear some of you say, what about Boston Pride in June of this very year? It's a valid point, I did go to Boston Pride this year but hang on, let me explain my reasoning here. This was the third Pride I've attended. In 2004, I went to London Pride with my sister. I was very newly out and I was so completely self-conscious the entire time because as well as being my first time of attempting to live as male away from my home, I was having to do this accompanied by my sister. It made it really difficult to be me, especially as I was so newly out that I didn't really know who that was anyway. Then in June this year, I went to Boston Pride with my boyfriend. Although by this time, I was more comfortable in my self and more knowledgeable about who that person is, I was there firstly as part of the MTPC contingent during the parade and then afterward as Michael-and-Nathaniel. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing state to be in, especially given the event, but again, it wasn't just me being me at Pride. So this time at Manchester Pride, I had no accompanying sister or boyfriend. I was there with people who know me solely through my work with the LGBT Youth group and that's all they've ever known me as* so I could be my complete comfortable self around them. So in that respect, it was my first Pride.
And what a Pride it was! Before it started, there was the Trans Awareness Training I'd organised taking place from 1pm till 4pm. I'd decided to get to the centre about 12.30 which would give me half an hour before the training started to get set up if need be. I actually got to the train station just after 11 which meant that I could catch the 11.08 train which was what I did. Except I might have been better waiting for the next one because it was completely jam packed full. All the entrances into each carriage were full of people and the one I chose to enter the train was also full of half a dozen suitcases. And a woman with a pushchair. I ended up being jammed into a corner next to the doors so I had to stand up for the hour long journey down to Manchester. Not fun. I arrived in Manchester just after 12 and got down to the centre. There were two women there holding the fort, but they left soon after I arrived so I sat and ate my butty and waited for people to arrive. Mostly Bear. About 12.20 I got a phone call from Bear saying that they'd left Blackpool at 11 that morning but had been sat in traffic on the M60 for the past half an hour due to a huge accident. People started to arrive about 12.30, and there were quite a few! Bear rang again saying that they'd got to Manchester but were having difficulty finding the centre as a lot of the streets were closed off due to Pride and also none of them had streetsigns. Luckily my boss was able to give directions to the centre so Bear and hir Secret Agent Lover Man arrived just on 1. Once the car had been parked and people fortified with tea and coffee, the training started. There were about 14 of us so that was quite impressive, and although most were from Manchester, 2 of them had come down from Newcastle! It went very well. The first half was talking about terms and definitions and that kind of thing. Then there was a bit of a break and after that we broke up into groups and worked on 4 different things which were: Questions that show good tranny manners; Areas that cispeople have privilege; How cispeople can be good allies, and when do people ask for sex/gender information and when is it necessary. So we discussed those in little groups and then back in the big group again. We'd started late so we ran a bit past 4pm but only by about 10-15 minutes. When it was all done, one of my co-workers thanked them both for coming and for their interesting information, and also thanked me for organising the whole thing. So that was nice, I wasn't expecting to get publicly thanked like that.
The group broke up and people went off to do their own stuff. I wasn't sure what was happening next as there was quite a bit of time to waste till the performance started at 8 and I didn't even know where it was! Bear wanted to go back to the car as ze had treats for me so we walked back to the car park and I got treats! It turned out to be a pack of Reese's peanut butter cups and 4 packs of kool aid - 2 cherry and 2 grape. Apparently Bear had e-mailed Michael to ask if I would like any American treats and that was the result! SALM was amused that I actually wanted American stuff, because usually it's the other way around. Besides, everything was from Canada anyway. Bear and hir SALM went off to do stuffs and I had a wander round Manchester for a bit before it was time to go into the Village for the performance at Youth Space. I got there about 7pm so people were busy setting things up ready to start at 8pm. It was taking place in the 'Village Hall', a rather grand name for what was usually a car park. It was one of those ones with a ticket barrier at the entrance, though the barrier had been removed, and was fenced off on all sides. A marquee had been put up at one end and there were smaller ones for the stalls along the side. I helped get things set up and went to do guard duty on the gate, even though there was an actual security guard assigned there. With it being a youth space, it was alcohol-free and for people between the ages of 14 and 30.
I did that until 8.45 and soon after that Bear and hir SALM arrived, having got lost on the way in and then given an earful from one of the security people for not having a performer's wristband. The person who was on stage before Bear finished just then so there was a few minutes break before Bear's time slot started. Ze was introduced as something like 'the internationally renowned performer' which amused the hell out of me. Bear did two readings from hir book Butch Is A Noun, firstly Boxer Briefs and then I Know What Butch Is which got amazing response. There was lots of laughter and agreements, and at the end ze got huge applause, more than for any of the previous acts. Actually, more than the headlining act that followed as most people left before they'd finished. Some of my colleagues told me how much they enjoyed it, including my boss so I was really pleased. Bear had brought two books to sell; my boss bought one for the centre's library and I got the other one as a thank you for organising the whole thing which was so amazingly nice. I even got Bear to sign it too! After that we just hung out for a bit and chatted until I had to hurry off and get my train before I was stranded in Manchester overnight. I was disappointed that we didn't get to spend more time together but things just didn't work out that way and I'm glad that I got to spend as even the little time with Bear and hir SALM as I did. It was so nice to see them both and I had a really good time. I only wish they weren't so far away!
Then it was Saturday and the day of the Pride parade. I got to the train station early again and got the 12.04 train instead of the one at half past. And like on the Friday, it was full so I had to stand up all the way to Manchester again. My legs and feet had been aching the night before and they'd only just recovered so my feet were aching before I'd even got off the train. It was about 1pm when I got into Manchester Piccadilly so I got a baguette thing from Upper Crust thanks to my lovely bite card which gets me a 20% discount. I set off towards the Village, going over the footbridge where there was a stall from the British Transport Police handing out goody bags so that was the freebies starting off early! I got into the Village and wandered into the market bit where there was lots of stalls but they were all selling stuff. There was half a dozen set slightly aside though which weren't selling anything and were more companies promoting themselves. One was Amnesty International and they had two petitions to sign, one of which was for two Transwomen held in the US I think, so I signed that one with pleasure. I signed them both, but you get what I mean. I managed to find my way to the Expo area where the main lot of promotional stalls were and tried to arrange meeting up with a friend to see the parade. While I waited for her, I had a bit of a look round some of the stalls. I'd seen about half of them when it was 2pm and my phone was ringing - not that I could hear it, there was loud music blaring out over the main speakers and a couple of stalls had their own music on so it was really noisy. Good job I had my phone on vibrate! I met Kay at the stall and then we went off to meet up with some others and watch the parade.
The parade started at 2pm and as we were close to the end, it would take a while to get to us. There were people in front of me so I couldn't see amazingly well but some time later, people moved and I could stand on the kerb which gave me a couple of extra inches. The parade got to us about half two and lasted till 3.45! The first group marching was the police and there were so many of them! They also had a brass band which amused me. Every English parade has to have a brass band in it somewhere. There were 90 groups marching so obviously, I'm not going to list them all here. I can't remember half of them! Some were more memorable and remarkable than others, obviously. When the LGF appeared, one of my friends said to me "Shh, it's the LGF" so we didn't cheer them, we booed them instead. They're notoriously Transphobic and so I refuse to have anything to do with them or support them in any way seeing as they don't support me. The Sally Army also marched with their usual band which surprised me, and even more surprising, they were marching in drag! I don't remember seeing any female-bodied people, it seemed to be mostly male-bodied who were all dressed in what looked like Victorian style attire. It was quite an eye-opener! There were lots of different NHS trusts marching, one with an ambulance - someone behind us remarked that that was one ambulance out of commission for the area for the day - the fire brigade were there too as were various youth groups, clubs, universities, unions and religious organisations.
I could feel a headache growing while we watched the parade. It was really noisy with music blaring out from various floats, the sheer amount of whistles being blown in unison from both the people marching and the crowd, and some annoying kid with an airhorn across the road from us. I went back into the Village to look round the remainder of the Expo and get lots more freebies. One stall was giving out goody bags in nice canvas bags so that was cool. I got one and dumped all the other stuff I got into that. It was about half 4 by the time I saw it all so I thought I would make a move as I'd well had enough; as well as a splitting headache, I was also really tired and my feet were pretty sore too from two days of being on them non-stop. It was earlier than I'd intended to leave but I was expecting to do all the stalls after the parade and I'd done half of them before it instead. I went back to Piccadilly and got the train home.
So that was my Pride! It seemed like two very long busy days that kind of ran into each other with getting home on Friday night, going straight to bed and then going back to Manchester the following day! I came back with lots of freebies including lanyard, yoyo, whistle, half a tree's worth of paper crap and various sweets including little bits of rock and some Uncle Joe's mint balls (can you tell this was a Northern Pride?). Plus I got a copy of Bear's book of which Michael is understandably jealous, Reese's peanut butter cups, Kool Aid and two bottles of Gatorade which apparently is being sold over here now! Good stuffs all round.
* Apart from the one friend who I went to school with but that was several Ice Ages ago and we've both changed so much since then that it doesn't really count. Besides, she wasn't there a great deal as she had other stuff to do and people to hang out with.
And what a Pride it was! Before it started, there was the Trans Awareness Training I'd organised taking place from 1pm till 4pm. I'd decided to get to the centre about 12.30 which would give me half an hour before the training started to get set up if need be. I actually got to the train station just after 11 which meant that I could catch the 11.08 train which was what I did. Except I might have been better waiting for the next one because it was completely jam packed full. All the entrances into each carriage were full of people and the one I chose to enter the train was also full of half a dozen suitcases. And a woman with a pushchair. I ended up being jammed into a corner next to the doors so I had to stand up for the hour long journey down to Manchester. Not fun. I arrived in Manchester just after 12 and got down to the centre. There were two women there holding the fort, but they left soon after I arrived so I sat and ate my butty and waited for people to arrive. Mostly Bear. About 12.20 I got a phone call from Bear saying that they'd left Blackpool at 11 that morning but had been sat in traffic on the M60 for the past half an hour due to a huge accident. People started to arrive about 12.30, and there were quite a few! Bear rang again saying that they'd got to Manchester but were having difficulty finding the centre as a lot of the streets were closed off due to Pride and also none of them had streetsigns. Luckily my boss was able to give directions to the centre so Bear and hir Secret Agent Lover Man arrived just on 1. Once the car had been parked and people fortified with tea and coffee, the training started. There were about 14 of us so that was quite impressive, and although most were from Manchester, 2 of them had come down from Newcastle! It went very well. The first half was talking about terms and definitions and that kind of thing. Then there was a bit of a break and after that we broke up into groups and worked on 4 different things which were: Questions that show good tranny manners; Areas that cispeople have privilege; How cispeople can be good allies, and when do people ask for sex/gender information and when is it necessary. So we discussed those in little groups and then back in the big group again. We'd started late so we ran a bit past 4pm but only by about 10-15 minutes. When it was all done, one of my co-workers thanked them both for coming and for their interesting information, and also thanked me for organising the whole thing. So that was nice, I wasn't expecting to get publicly thanked like that.
The group broke up and people went off to do their own stuff. I wasn't sure what was happening next as there was quite a bit of time to waste till the performance started at 8 and I didn't even know where it was! Bear wanted to go back to the car as ze had treats for me so we walked back to the car park and I got treats! It turned out to be a pack of Reese's peanut butter cups and 4 packs of kool aid - 2 cherry and 2 grape. Apparently Bear had e-mailed Michael to ask if I would like any American treats and that was the result! SALM was amused that I actually wanted American stuff, because usually it's the other way around. Besides, everything was from Canada anyway. Bear and hir SALM went off to do stuffs and I had a wander round Manchester for a bit before it was time to go into the Village for the performance at Youth Space. I got there about 7pm so people were busy setting things up ready to start at 8pm. It was taking place in the 'Village Hall', a rather grand name for what was usually a car park. It was one of those ones with a ticket barrier at the entrance, though the barrier had been removed, and was fenced off on all sides. A marquee had been put up at one end and there were smaller ones for the stalls along the side. I helped get things set up and went to do guard duty on the gate, even though there was an actual security guard assigned there. With it being a youth space, it was alcohol-free and for people between the ages of 14 and 30.
I did that until 8.45 and soon after that Bear and hir SALM arrived, having got lost on the way in and then given an earful from one of the security people for not having a performer's wristband. The person who was on stage before Bear finished just then so there was a few minutes break before Bear's time slot started. Ze was introduced as something like 'the internationally renowned performer' which amused the hell out of me. Bear did two readings from hir book Butch Is A Noun, firstly Boxer Briefs and then I Know What Butch Is which got amazing response. There was lots of laughter and agreements, and at the end ze got huge applause, more than for any of the previous acts. Actually, more than the headlining act that followed as most people left before they'd finished. Some of my colleagues told me how much they enjoyed it, including my boss so I was really pleased. Bear had brought two books to sell; my boss bought one for the centre's library and I got the other one as a thank you for organising the whole thing which was so amazingly nice. I even got Bear to sign it too! After that we just hung out for a bit and chatted until I had to hurry off and get my train before I was stranded in Manchester overnight. I was disappointed that we didn't get to spend more time together but things just didn't work out that way and I'm glad that I got to spend as even the little time with Bear and hir SALM as I did. It was so nice to see them both and I had a really good time. I only wish they weren't so far away!
Then it was Saturday and the day of the Pride parade. I got to the train station early again and got the 12.04 train instead of the one at half past. And like on the Friday, it was full so I had to stand up all the way to Manchester again. My legs and feet had been aching the night before and they'd only just recovered so my feet were aching before I'd even got off the train. It was about 1pm when I got into Manchester Piccadilly so I got a baguette thing from Upper Crust thanks to my lovely bite card which gets me a 20% discount. I set off towards the Village, going over the footbridge where there was a stall from the British Transport Police handing out goody bags so that was the freebies starting off early! I got into the Village and wandered into the market bit where there was lots of stalls but they were all selling stuff. There was half a dozen set slightly aside though which weren't selling anything and were more companies promoting themselves. One was Amnesty International and they had two petitions to sign, one of which was for two Transwomen held in the US I think, so I signed that one with pleasure. I signed them both, but you get what I mean. I managed to find my way to the Expo area where the main lot of promotional stalls were and tried to arrange meeting up with a friend to see the parade. While I waited for her, I had a bit of a look round some of the stalls. I'd seen about half of them when it was 2pm and my phone was ringing - not that I could hear it, there was loud music blaring out over the main speakers and a couple of stalls had their own music on so it was really noisy. Good job I had my phone on vibrate! I met Kay at the stall and then we went off to meet up with some others and watch the parade.
The parade started at 2pm and as we were close to the end, it would take a while to get to us. There were people in front of me so I couldn't see amazingly well but some time later, people moved and I could stand on the kerb which gave me a couple of extra inches. The parade got to us about half two and lasted till 3.45! The first group marching was the police and there were so many of them! They also had a brass band which amused me. Every English parade has to have a brass band in it somewhere. There were 90 groups marching so obviously, I'm not going to list them all here. I can't remember half of them! Some were more memorable and remarkable than others, obviously. When the LGF appeared, one of my friends said to me "Shh, it's the LGF" so we didn't cheer them, we booed them instead. They're notoriously Transphobic and so I refuse to have anything to do with them or support them in any way seeing as they don't support me. The Sally Army also marched with their usual band which surprised me, and even more surprising, they were marching in drag! I don't remember seeing any female-bodied people, it seemed to be mostly male-bodied who were all dressed in what looked like Victorian style attire. It was quite an eye-opener! There were lots of different NHS trusts marching, one with an ambulance - someone behind us remarked that that was one ambulance out of commission for the area for the day - the fire brigade were there too as were various youth groups, clubs, universities, unions and religious organisations.
I could feel a headache growing while we watched the parade. It was really noisy with music blaring out from various floats, the sheer amount of whistles being blown in unison from both the people marching and the crowd, and some annoying kid with an airhorn across the road from us. I went back into the Village to look round the remainder of the Expo and get lots more freebies. One stall was giving out goody bags in nice canvas bags so that was cool. I got one and dumped all the other stuff I got into that. It was about half 4 by the time I saw it all so I thought I would make a move as I'd well had enough; as well as a splitting headache, I was also really tired and my feet were pretty sore too from two days of being on them non-stop. It was earlier than I'd intended to leave but I was expecting to do all the stalls after the parade and I'd done half of them before it instead. I went back to Piccadilly and got the train home.
So that was my Pride! It seemed like two very long busy days that kind of ran into each other with getting home on Friday night, going straight to bed and then going back to Manchester the following day! I came back with lots of freebies including lanyard, yoyo, whistle, half a tree's worth of paper crap and various sweets including little bits of rock and some Uncle Joe's mint balls (can you tell this was a Northern Pride?). Plus I got a copy of Bear's book of which Michael is understandably jealous, Reese's peanut butter cups, Kool Aid and two bottles of Gatorade which apparently is being sold over here now! Good stuffs all round.
* Apart from the one friend who I went to school with but that was several Ice Ages ago and we've both changed so much since then that it doesn't really count. Besides, she wasn't there a great deal as she had other stuff to do and people to hang out with.