Trans* woman and her two grandchildren lead Norwich Pride Parade.
Organisers are claiming the sixth Norwich Pride, which took place on Saturday, July 26, was the biggest and best to date, attracting record crowds to the city centre parade.
The sun shone throughout the day as an estimated five thousand people paraded through the city centre led by a colourful samba band and trans* activist Poppy Rose, waving a large rainbow flag, and her two grandchildren.
The parade included 42 white Umbrellas of Love with the names of countries where it is illegal to be LGBT painted on them in red to highlight homophobia in the Commonwealth countries while the games are taking place in Glasgow. The project was created and led by poet and activist, Vince Laws.
One of the key aims of Norwich Pride is to turn Norwich into a rainbow during Pride. The rainbow flag flew at many public buildings and businesses across the city and beyond, including the County Police HQ at Wymondham, hospitals, Jarrolds Department Store, the Norwich Puppet Theatre, the Castle Museum and City Hall.
Lord Mayor of Norwich Judith Lubbock formally opened the event and said that Norwich is proud to have such colourful and diverse people contribute in such a positive way.
Hundreds of people provided feedback on the positive experience on Facebook and Twitter.
Dean Simons, Chair of Norwich Pride 2014, was thrilled with how the day unfolded.
He said: “Once again we are proud to bring you a family-friendly, free and inclusive pride event in the heart of our fine city. This year Norwich Pride is bigger than ever as more volunteers, businesses and organisations, such as Aviva Pride and Fosters Solicitors get involved. We mustn’t forget the fantastic support from the trade unions as well – we plan to go on and on!”
The day had a focus on ensuring all schools are a safe space for LGBT pupils and teachers. Elly Barnes, the CEO of Educate and Celebrate, cut the ribbon at the Norfolk Proud Schools film showing in the morning and said her aim was acknowledgement and acceptance in schools around the country.
“What we want is to get all the teachers in the area trained so they have the tools and the confidence to be inclusive of LGBT people in their teaching. It needs to be embedded in the curriculum, and that’s not the case at the moment.”
Elly is currently leading a project called CHIPS – Challenging Homophobia in Primary Schools – that is having a positive impact.
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Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell spoke from the bandstand in Chapelfield Gardens at the end of the parade where live music, puppet shows and stalls were located.
He said: “Norwich Pride is fantastic. It’s a great celebration of the contribution that LGBTI people make to the community, enriching its life and contributing to its diversity.”
He said there were celebrations at having won same-sex marriage, but there was also “unfinished business”, including the issue of homophobic bullying in schools, and global issues, with homosexuality still criminalised in 42 of the 53 Commonwealth member states.
A ‘Question Time’ debate took place in front of around 100 people with Peter Tatchell, Elly Barnes and CN Lester as panellists, chaired by local teacher and pride organiser Nick O’Brien. The audience got involved, discussing topical issues such as labelling and whether intersex people belong under the ‘LGBT’ umbrella, homophobia in sport, education, and global concerns for people in countries where being gay is still illegal.
Musician and activist CN Lester also gave a fascinating talk earlier in the day on Beyond a fringe issue: why everyone should care about trans issues.
Julie Bremner, Vice-chair of Norwich Pride, said: “It’s just a beautiful day with beautiful people. Everyone’s smiling, people know what to expect now and I think as organisers we match that.We deliver a free event in the heart of the city, from the LGBT community and for everyone.”
There was a police presence in the city centre, and potential for friction where a few religious protesters had gathered with a crucifix and banners bearing biblical quotations in Gentleman’s Walk. But the parade passed without incident, and Ms Bremner said it aimed to be fun for everyone as well as having an important message.
“Every year we see young people come to this event who actually come out to their friends or family. To me personally, it just makes such a positive difference to making the community a safe place.”
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