Thursday 28 June 2012

Shambles



What a shambles!

From GayStar News:
"Pride London bosses have confirmed they have axed the cars and floats from the World Pride parade on 7th July.

The event will now be a ‘procession’, they say, with ‘walking groups only’ and will start earlier at 11am due to the organisers' 'cash crisis'.

The decision comes after an emergency all-agency meeting at City Hall."
The DJ events in Soho are cancelled, and the Trafalgar Square stage will close earlier, at 6pm.

We are furious at this last minute decision, as many people must be. Admittedly it is doesn't have a huge impact for our gang, as we only ever do the procession and hardly bother with the after-parties or the big stage. Gay Pride is a march, after all! A presence. A statement. A message of unity and strength.

However, we do feel the whole debacle will have a major knock-on effect for not just the groups who have stumped up thousands of pounds for their floats, but also on the numbers who will be celebrating - this is, after all, supposed to be a "World" event!

As Peter Tatchell (one of the original organisers of the first Pride march forty years ago in 1972, and understandably livid) said to Pink News:
"Many people have booked coaches and trains to arrive at the original start time of 1pm, and it’s too late to ensure that everyone knows that the start time has changed. It is going to result in total chaos and gridlock throughout the West End. The police and the Mayor are stark, raving mad to have agreed to this shambles.

"Scaling back speakers and performers on the main stage at Trafalgar Square will cause huge disappointment. The fear is that some of the human rights speakers will be axed as a result, further depoliticising the event.

"Whatever the rights and wrongs, this scaling down of World Pride is a huge embarrassment for London and for our LGBT community. We promised LGBT people world-wide a fabulous, spectacular event. It now looks like World Pride in London will go down in history as a damp squib.

"We’re not only letting down LGBT people in Britain, we’re also betraying the trust and confidence of LGBT people world-wide. This is an absolute disaster."
In my own long history of attending Pride events, this is not the first time I have experienced a cancellation of a Gay Pride party (never the march). It is, to my recollection however, the first time a Pride has been so radically changed at such short notice.

Our plans are going ahead regardless - and we will have a fab time as always! However, some of the glitter has been removed from the gingerbread...

8 comments:

  1. In a way we are the lucky ones - we know the start time has changed and we just need to get our arses in gear 2 hours earlier than intended.

    It's the balls-up, and balls-up in front of an international audience that is most embarrassing.

    Usually I go to Gran Canaria for Pride - a small island that always manages to put on a fabulous free parade and free after-party with a stage in the main square with international cabaret acts and singers like Marc Almond, Bucks Fizz etc…

    The costs are covered by the bars in the Yumbo that make money from the gay visitors through-out the year - Soho and it's pubs should take note.

    London is meant to be a world leader ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a humiliation for London as a whole, in this year of all years - when the eyes of the World are (literally) upon us, with the Jubilee and the Olympics, and the presence of international media in droves already set up in the city.

      Heads should indeed roll!

      Jx

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  2. PS - we will have a fab time regardless but I wonder how many other people will bother now with the event scaled back so much - and an 11am start?

    1pm is early to start - don't they know gorgeous-ness takes time x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tut. I hadn't heard this.
    So in your opinion, what's this all about *really*?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In my opinion this is a complete fuck-up by the organisers, and at this late stage there is no-one willing to stump up any more money to keep it on track. The Mayor's office has been quick to state publicly it has paid £100,000 towards it. The questions are many: Why wait till one week before the event before annoucning these changes? What has happened to the money donated so far? Who exactly are these bloody incompetent people supposedly in charge of a world-class event, and how can they be allowed to do this with no recourse?

      I could do a better job! Jx

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  4. Hell, yes you could!

    & whilst you're at it, take over the government & the banks & do a better job there as well! xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh darling - what I could do if I had the money and the power... Jx

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