BRIGHTON GAY PRIDE 2006

THIS EVENT HAS NOW HAPPENED AND IS HERE FOR ARCHIVE REASONS ONLY

Sussex Mad is proud to be a Gay friendly site!

We welcome Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and even Straight people 8o)

The Parade

One of the main parts of Gay Pride was the Parade around Brighton that finished at Preston Park, there were loads of floats and as always it was better than any of the normal carnival processions I have been to.

The floats were mostly very bright, colourful and flamboyant. It normally takes about an hour and a half to two hours for the float to travel from the seafront to Preston Park (sounds about right for Brighton traffic!). Its something I think everybody should watch at least once, its a great experience and the atmosphere is always incredible. You don't have to be part of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender) community to attend, there are thousands of straight people that attend the parade and all the fun in Preston Park. It is basically family friendly and I have no problem with taking my 8 year old daughter there (she has been 4 times now), just as long as you are all a little broad minded. You will see men kissing men, women kissing women, men dressed as women, some of the stalls in Preston Park do sell sex toys and kinky clothes, I have seen a couple of naked bums and a topless woman, but its all so laid back and relaxed that nobody cares.

Lots of charities have floats in the parade, the picture on the right is the open top bus that Mind bring every year. Amnesty International usually have good ones, in 2005 they drove the whole parade route in a real tank! That may sound a little strange for them, but the tank was painted bright pink!!! Thats a sight I will not forget!

Preston Park

Preston Park is a huge park and Gay Pride took over most of it. There were hundreds of stalls, charity ones, shop ones, club ones, even the police had stalls trying to recruit new officers. Loads of the stalls were giving away freebies and we came back loaded up with pens, pencils, leaflets, badges, keyrings, sweets, stickers and even condoms! As I have already mentioned you do have to be a little broad minded, as some of the stalls are selling some strange items. You do see the occasional red face when a kid asks their parent "What's that?" pointing to a 12" rubber dildo! 8o) I have always tried to be honest, but not graphic when asked stuff like that.

There was a large fairground area with loads of rides, games, burger stalls, ice cream vans etc. all of which are totally 'normal' so its a safe area if you are with kids and don't fancy any embarrassing questions! It is pretty pricey, but no more than most other big public events, it was £3.50 for a quarterpounder cheeseburger at most burger stalls to give you some idea of prices. Drinks were also expensive, but their are normally a few stalls (including the Labour party one) that were giving away free bottles of water.

Their were also a few entertainment tents, mostly links to local clubs. The only tents we went into were "Wild Fruit" with great dance music, played very loud! unfortunately it was really packed and you could barely move in there, so we did not stay long. The "Revenge" tent had a comedian in drag when we popped in, but the jokes were a little on the rude side for my daughter, so we did not stay long there either.

We did go into another tent and watched a women singing for a while and she was pretty good.

Gay Pride Vs Religion

Note: You may agree with these comments, you may really disagree with them, the point of a free world is that you and I have the freedom to choose.

This year there was a protest from some people complaining about the fact the police were supporting the event and condoning gay sex, this protest of course was by a religious group claiming that it goes against what it says in the Bible. Pick up a non fiction book on almost any subject that is over 50 years old and the chances are a lot of what it says is out of date or irrelevant, a 100 years old would be even worse, so why do people still panic so much about what a roughly 2000 year old book says? Even if the book is the Bible? I think that the Bible and similar books from other religions are good and the basic messages they promote are good, but times change and people have to change with them. People do not choose to be Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender etc. They are born that way, its not something to be cured or treated, its just how some people are and there is nothing wrong with that.

If you are reading this and class yourself as 100% straight then think for a minute what it would be like to have sex with a person the same sex as you, if you hate the thought thats ok, thats how some gay people feel about sex with a member of the opposite sex. You cannot no more make a person thats 100% gay become straight, then you can a person 100% straight become gay. I wonder how many people have committed suicide or finished up in a psychiatric hospital over the years due to being gay and having to hide it, due to the fear of hatred from their friends, family, co-workers etc. Gay Pride is about being proud to be who you really are and not ashamed.

I know people who are gay and would never go to Gay Pride, as they are worried about being seen there. They should never be made to feel that way. In my opinion we all need to be uniting the world and accepting people for who and what they are, if you want to feel hatred, then hate the paedophiles, rapists and other people like that, not consenting adults that happen to want to do things differently to you. Men love Women, Women love Men, Men love Men, Women love Women, its all love, as long as its consenting adults, whats the difference! You can be Gay and believe in God.

Brighton Gay Pride Links

Official Brighton Pride site

Brighton Pride photos and more

Mind Out

Related information

Gay Pride

Always remember, be proud to be you!