Manchester Pride

Who doesn't love spending time with friends having a drink and enjoying the atmosphere together. That's what Manchester Pride is, a good time with your friends, it is no longer the message it once was, no longer the shout for equality, its just a piss up with a lot of bright colours, half naked people and a fair amount of rain.

My first Pride was 6 years ago, I remember being nervous and excited at the same time, I was joining the gay community, and back then it did feel more like a community, loads of stalls, lots of people talking about lots of things, now I feel its lost that.

The parade felt more like an excuse for advertising, either for a company or for a service, I.E. we are a gay friendly service, carry on using and trusting us, don't get me wrong some of that is good, for example the Police and other front line services.

One last complaint I have about this year's Pride, the main stage. A friend and I went to Baa Bar briefly to get some shots, came back and found that the entire main stage had been fenced off, not one way in, nor one way OUT! If you wanted out of the main stage you literally had to Que to get out. When we saw this we were quite disgusted by it, we both agree'd that if something went wrong in the main stage it had the potential to be something similar to another Hillsborough, and I don't say that lightly, after all my friend was from Liverpool.

All in all though, Curtis and I enjoyed our 3 days at Pride (we could not hack 4), we saw our friends, had some drinks and had a laugh... it's just a shame that Pride has sold out!