Andy Green’s Column
GREEN ON LIV E R P O O L , LI V ERPOOL, LI V ERPOOL
h, Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool – I love this place. It’s so vibrant and fun and the vast majority of people are just fabulous. Of course we’ve got our fair share of bad apples but I don’t think any more than any other major city. But we have hit the headlines in the last couple of years with the horrific murder of gay teenager Michael Causer and the brutal, homophobic attack on gay PC James Parkes. Neither of these cases has been resolved satisfactorily and the campaigning will continue until they are. The city’s LGBT community doesn’t often come together in all of its various guises but after these two horrible events it did and with a lot of our straight friends too. We seemed to realise that we’re all in this together and that our differing social habits or political views are superseded by the need for us all to stand together for our right to be treated equally in law. And the local powers-that-be are now finally taking notice of us, who would have thought only a few years back that the Rainbow flag would be seen flying above Liverpool Town Hall – progress indeed. We’ve got another chance to show the world what we’re all about on August 7th with the first official Liverpool LGBT Pride – there have been a couple of smaller events before and a few aborted attempts. I went to the one in the 90’s in Pownall Square outside and in the Time Out bar and have to say I really enjoyed myself despite my temporary crown constantly falling out – particularly embarrassing when I was on the karaoke and some one picked it up for me. But it was a brilliant community spirit that many of us hadn’t experienced before despite the police having to hold back the gang of rabid, religious cranks who were desperate to spoil the day. My only regret was that the police wouldn’t let me get near to them so I could have a little word or two.
This year’s Pride is going to be so much bigger and better, we won’t be confined to a small square, oh no, we’re closing streets baby! This is Liverpool’s chance to put itself on the gay map, attract new gay visitors and, in turn, business to the city. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we’ll ever get anything like Canal Street – we haven’t got a canal for a start – and Manchester’s gay village was pretty much built up from scratch whereas we have to work around what we’ve already got - gay bars interspersed with law firms and estate agents. Liverpool’s Gay Quarter will have to spread out and maybe become more of a Gay Third but I think there’s plenty of opportunities for development around the Stanley Street end of town if not Stanley Street itself. It’s all to play for but the future’s bright and is a rather pleasing shade of pink.
We’v e got another chance to show the world wha t we’re all about on August 7th with the first official Li v erpool LGBT Pride.
It’s all to pla y for but the future’s bright and is a ra ther pleasing shade of pink.
The political landscape has changed significantly in the last couple of months both nationally and locally. We’ve landed ourselves with a ConDem coalition government and Liverpool City Council has changed from Lib Dem to Labour. I’m not too concerned about the local change as Paul Brant is the openly gay deputy leader of the council and I know him and he’s a good bloke and I think any fears that funding might be cut for the likes of Liverpool Pride and Homotopia are unfounded. But if there are cuts Paul, I’ll be right on your case. The national picture is more uncertain, I don’t think LGBT people’s rights to total equality are high on the Tory agenda and that concern is borne out by the appointment of Theresa May as Home Secretary with responsibility for Equality. Ms May has voted against or abstained on every piece of legislation affecting LGBT people in recent years – hardly a glowing CV. But we’ll see, maybe it will all work out wonderfully and we have truly entered into an age of consensus politics but I personally think we’ll be heading to the polls again in the not too distant future.
Enjoy Pride, enjoy being yourself and above all be safe x
seenmag.co.uk
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