Pride without prejudice

  

"What is pride? A rocket that emulates the stars."
(William Wordsworth)

 

The celebration now known as "Brighton Pride" is now in it's 40th year. Incredibly, the first march or parade was a smallish affair organised by the Sussex Gay Liberation Front in 1973; a mere seven years earlier and such a gathering of predominantly openly"out and proud" homosexuality could have culminated in custodial sentences. As in recent years, this Brighton Pride Weekend of 3rd and 4th August saw gay police officers from the city marching at the height of the parade. For the sixth successive year, they were joined by gay officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight constabularies, men and women and all proudly in uniform.
The Pride festivities are now organised by a specially created community-interest company, enabling and producing events that celebrate lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-gender lives. The weekend now extends beyond the parade and the music festival in Preston Park to include a city-wide arts and film festival. Brighton Pride always aims to raise not only awareness, smiles and spirits but also funds for local community groups and charities. These essentially include HIV and AIDS support groups. As a former voluntary carer and fundraiser for the Terrence Higgins Trust, I'm always heartened to see THT's friendly and inclusive presence at such events. This year, it's estimated that more than £40,000 has been raised for the collective "Rainbow Fund".
In fact, general inclusivity across the parade and celebrations was bright and evident in Brighton this year. I was working over the Pride weekend and didn't really intend to join the parade or activities, but the theatrical enthusiasm was infectious. The theme of the festivities this year was gay icons across the arts and media. I found myself queuing in my local Aldi behind two male Monroes and ahead of a variety of Freddie Mercury and Cher lookalikes. Even iconic-wannabees fancy a bargain. I wandered past what I refer to as my local cheap-frock shop, only to find they were offering multi-coloured tutus as "buy one get one free". The rather skimpily curtained changing cubicles were full of delightful but quite large gentlemen taking advantage of the tutu sale: I had my doubts about their ballet credentials.
My one unwitting concession to the very sunny Pride weekend was to wear a homestead sundress and a straw cowboy hat from the 99p Shop. Along the walk home I was serenaded and yeehaw-ed at by a variety of cowboys, cowgirls and Native American Indians. Clearly, I had forgotten about the impact of the (beautiful) film "Brokeback Mountain"; and the cherished close partnership of The Lone Ranger and Tonto. As I emerged back onto Lewes Road, a Lady GaGa, Bugs Bunny, complete with carrot, and two very male, very bare-chested nuns tickled me as I went past their group. Turns out that Sally Field as The Flying Nun is a definite gay icon - who knew? The tickling incident was a bit of a shock although not unpleasant; I still haven't worked out where dear ol' Bugs Bunny fits into all this.
Attendance estimates for the weekend seem to vary wildly this year too; from the very conservative police figure of 30,000 to the extravagant 150,000 from some of the official sponsors. As with most things in life, the truth rests somewhere in the shade of the two extremes. As George Bernard Shaw suggested, life is not so much about finding yourself as it is about creating yourself. Obviously the good-natured openness and tolerance I witnessed locally extended across the city and over the whole weekend: there were about forty arrests in the city that weekend, probably the same as on any other hot summer weekend at the seaside.
When I first moved to Brighton, I found the tone of Pride quite different. Always promoted as a family celebration, it started to feel a little exclusive to me as a heterosexual female; although I felt saddened rather than threatened. My sexuality and my beliefs, including my Catholicism, sit very comfortably with dear friends made over the years who happen to be gay and the respect and affection I have for the gay community in Brighton. Essentially, I believe Brighton Pride must be inclusive to all ages, genders, sexualities and values to remain valid as well as supported. The point is that every gay man and woman is someone's son, daughter, brother, sister, possibly someone's parent; a police officer, a nurse, your neighbour, a friend.
I have no problem with Brighton Pride being proud, as long as it remains valiant rather than becoming arrogant. I'd actually like to see a celebration of self-worth extend beyond the gay community in Brighton, indeed beyond the city. A few days after Pride 2013, I've had to yet again complain to the city council about the street I live in being used as a little city dump. One person leaves a broken vacuum cleaner in the road, another person leaves a chair, then a large broken mirror appears propped up perilously against the side of a house. The street cleaner still isn't cleaning one side of the road, presumably because of the debris on the pavement.
This area is made up of whole streets of largely rented properties and this is the heart of campus country. After an attempted break-in at my little house the other week, a well-intentioned policeman sympathised that my area is disadvantaged and therefore resentful He noted that if people haven't grown up here or simply feel "dumped" here, the lack of strong roots can destroy the growth of future community. I do feel that when folk have no sense of connection with where they find themselves in life, there's no concept of pride in where they live and sadly, sometimes in how they treat others.
"Pride" is a widely used yet perhaps little understood word. With a negative connotation, often synonymous with "hubris", it refers to an inflated sense of self, often at the expense of all else; in Christianity, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Yet the word itself originates from the Latin "prodis" - "to be of use or service". Through time, this evolved into the Old French and English words for valiant and noble.
With a positive connotation, pride can refer to a sense of attachment towards one's own choices, beliefs or actions, and towards others. It can be the worthy product of self-reflection, a sense of appreciation, a feeling of fulfilment or belonging. There's a sense of exaltation in the mindset behind Brighton Pride which I feel St Augustine himself would have appreciated. His take on pride without prejudice was that we should have a sense of our own "excellence", to the glory of God who created us; including that bouncy young man so wonderfully dressed as Bugs Bunny. And my fabulous bargain Stetson.

 

 

"Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us."

(Jane Austen)

 

 

 

 

The Rainbow Fund
Sussex Community Foundation
Falcon Wharf
Railway Lane
LEWES
BN7 2AQ

info@sussexgiving.org.uk

 

www.brightonpride.org

 

www.tht.org.uk

 

  

"Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real."
(Thomas Merton)

"Pride perceiving humility honourable, often borrows her cloak."

(Thomas Fuller)

 

"Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay."
(Francois de la Rochefoucauld)

 (Photo: Gigi, album)
Yeehaw x

"Wake Me Up When It's All Over" Avicii

 

 

Muck and brass

 

  

The photo above is from a another side-turning off the main road here in Brighton, very close to my own little street. We are set off one of the busiest thoroughfares for local business in the city; within easy walking distance of the Palace Pier, the Pavilion and the Brighton Wheel. Not that this makes any difference to the immediate scenery: there are similar mounds of household and commercial rubbish and recycling across Brighton and Hove.

This post is really an open letter to Brighton and Hove City Council; the content has been emailed to them. Our refuse and recycling teams have been on balloted strike, as we approach the most crucial time of the year for seaside establishments. A wildcat strike in May resulted in a backlog of rubbish that couldn't possibly be cleared before the work to rule and current strikes commenced. In my particular area, our wheelie bins were removed just before the strike started, as part of a pilot scheme for communal bins. I would have welcomed this move, having rented in an area with only communal bins when I first moved here. But they were emptied everyday. When such large, focal collection points are left uncleared, the results can be seen in these pictures. Talks with the unions started in February; surely the pilot scheme should have been postponed if there was even the threat of disruption to services? The council initially suggested we take our rubbish home, but they had no (printable) suggestion as to where we should now put it.

The road cleaners have been part of the strike. Brighton's famously prolific gull population, who must think Christmas and Armageddon have arrived all at once, are skilled and ruthless binbag-rippers. Our pavements have been strewn with bits of pizza, fish and chips, vegetable skins and leftovers, much of it beginning to rot. Some bags clearly contain disposable nappies and sanitary items; also the dog poo the council has trained it's residents to scoop and wrap up. We have a wily and determined fox population too, and we've been warned that infestations of rats and maggots could follow.

Most people in Brighton are thankful that June has so far not been "flaming": probably one of the few parts of these isles that would rather forgo a long hot summer than suffer the accompanying long hot smells. However, the council and police warned residents about other flames: an arson attack would be disastrous with rubbish piled so high in front of houses and shops. The newly placed communal bins were meant to be strategic for flats and multi-resident housing, bus stops and food outlets.

Most of us have only a vague idea about the background to the strike. We know that the workers are concerned that changes to council staff allowances could effectively result in average pay cuts of £4,000 a year. The council say this is unlikely and that any changes have been brought in to safeguard existing jobs. But this is not a "poor" council: Brighton and Hove increased our council tax by just below the government capped maximum this year; the same as the previous year.

Sympathy for the working man and woman has been stretched as summer in the city so far has being uncomfortable for residents and visitors alike. Yet recent media polls showed that more than half of all residents questioned felt the council must be at fault. The strikers have not being paid and their families are living, eating and playing next to the same piles of rubbish as the rest of us. The council seemed to be in continual talks with the unions but at perpetual standoff. It didn't help the council's case that their representatives claimed things were moving encouragingly while the GMB, Britain's General Union, called the situation one of stalemate and animosity.

Having elected Dr Caroline Lucas as the UK's first Green Party MP in 2010, Brighton and Hove City Council is also Green by slight majority. Their mandate focuses on sustainable environmental policies and fair trade and business initiatives. Caroline Lucas was until very recently also the leader of the national Green Party; she stepped down from that role to concentrate on her parliamentary duties and local issues. To date, she hasn't made a comment about the refuse crisis. 

Today, B and H Council and the GMB have issued a joint statement, announcing that the industrial action will be "temporarily" suspended while new proposals from the council are considered. It's claimed that the proposed changes to services will be beneficial to residents as well, although of course the residents haven't been consulted with or even told what these changes will be. The council website does however point out that it's against the law for council tax payers to withhold any part of their bill due to the disruption of service, health hazard or inconvenience.

Brighton's increased number of rough sleepers have obviously been affected badly by the dispute. Some have taken to clearing rubbish themselves and trying to limit the carnage from the gulls. It's been both moving and disturbing to see this. Like most residents, I love Brighton warts and all, but open rubbish tips on main roads and along the seafront were avoidable and are not acceptable. Due to recent experience, most of us have no faith that the backlog will be cleared quickly or easily. The suspension of industrial action is temporary; there's no mention of contingency plans if the 28 day consultation fails.

Oh and instead of warning residents that we could face legal action if we pull back an effective refund for loss of services, perhaps an open and honest apology and explanation were in order. A guarantee that next year's council tax charge will reflect this sorry situation wouldn't go amiss.

Just sayin'.

 

 

  "Dirty Old Town" The Pogues (version)