London Pride 2011

It's a sign of increasing old age that each year seems to get quicker than the last one. I was amazed that suddenly here we were again shooting another London Pride. Brilliant sunshine prevailed and apart from the rantings of the Christian Right, a few cuts and bruises treated by the LAS and the repeated failure to make the event fully accessible for disabled people everything went swimmingly. Pride is free to attend every year because of the generosity of those who donate to it. The above link also has a section where you can make a donation to keep pride FREE.

Pictured here with the lovely Miranda (AKA Claire Anderson) is Joel Ryder, the man voted as the best Pride pouter three years running. He is a very generous and lovely man and I would like to thank him for the opportunity of working alongside him and the posse (sorry for the dated Steve Wright terminology I don't get out much) with my trusted camera in hand. Hugh Hill also joined me in the VIP area again with his press pass.

Prior to today's event I had no idea how LGBT-friendly Simon Cowell was. No less than 4 groups or artistes from the X-Factor/Britain's got talent stable took to the stage. Stavros Flatley above (AKA Demetrious & Michalakis) later posed with the most reliable political Pride regular, the Deputy Mayor of London, Richard Barnes.

Stephen K Amos (AKA that bloke from "Have I Got News For You" as I overheard one of the front row describe him) did a short stand up routine and warm up for the act that followed.

The first London Pride took place in 1972, two years after the formation of the UK's wing of the Gay Liberation Front. One of the key advocates then and now is the human rights activist Peter Tatchell According to the history books only 700 people turned up at that inaugural march, so I guess the years that have followed haven't been in vain. There's still largely a lip service from most of the politicians though. "Might lose us a few votes being too LGBT friendly" seems to prevail rather than "I don't want their votes" (ie the votes of the bigots or for that matter any bloody votes) proving once again that very few things that are political are ever correct.

No Pride would be complete without Peter or Stonewall this year's chosen charity for the TPS image sales. A full set of saleable images can be viewed here TPS Pride 2011. Don't forget every penny goes to Stonewall.

Another name from the X-Factor posse was Lloyd Daniels above.

It was lovely to see Bucks Fizz up on the stage too. For an old fart like me, they were one of the few acts I recognised. The women (Cheryl Baker & Jay Aston) looked amazing considering their Eurovision hit was 30 years ago. Sadly the blokes didn't fare so well. Only a 50% show from the men (Mike Nolan). The band has had quite a few line ups over the years though. There's a couple of cracking shots of Cheryl and Jay on our web site.

I can't remember when Eurovision was first recognised as having a huge Gay following, but I'm sure the pink pound in the UK has kept Terry Wogan's annual pilgrimage propped up (yes I know he's now retired now). I'm sure I can't be the first person to have seen the irony/hypocrisy of the bloke. When he had his own BBC TV show, he used the term "pouffs" to describe his guests who evangelically proclaimed they loved women! In the same season he had a big gushing obsequious interview with his hero Rock Hudson. He'd apparently left his Gaydar key in the locker room.

Once again the armed services were out in force (pun entirely intended). Here the Royal Navy delegation was led by Lieutenant Commander Mandy McBain, the Assistant Royal Naval Equality and Diversity Policy Officer. Now that's a really brave woman! Going to sea and getting torpedoed or a missile fired at them is one thing that the public know our senior servicemen and women risk facing, yet there are still mile long queues to do that job. One of Mandy's previous RN roles was as the spokesperson for the armed forces in Bosnia, so it's not exactly been pen pushing. Actually I object to the term "pen pusher" as a title of castigation - we should celebrate poets, authors, lyricists - all of whom are "pen pushing" writers - I digress sorry.

There's a camaraderie and uniting force that's difficult to explain to people who have never gone into war zones and felt the need to be backed up by the rest of the team and maybe that's part of the attraction of service life. The grub was never that good and few people in HM Forces would ever get shot at for the money.

I'm certain that the list of volunteers for Mandy's post was significantly less voluminous than those who merely wanted to see the world and wear a uniform that got them laid - Maybe things have changed, but that's what many of my peers joined up to do! Challenging the status quo of overt and largely unchallenged sexism and other hate crimes however (like the aforementioned Peter Tatchell) comes with it a sense of when you look over your shoulder for the backup, there's something of a void. I didn't have time to debate these issues with her, so Mandy is free to post comment and tell me I'll talking out of my port hole, but I'd lay a month's salary that I'm right on this occasion having spoken to some of her peers almost 30 years after I left the service myself.

It's not exclusive to the services of course. Challenging the school bully or bigot down the pub comes with it a special sort of bravery that most people just don't have. Part of it is a British thing I suspect - we like to tut and disapprove, but we're buggered if we're going to speak out. Of course there are those who thankfully do speak out, do the right thing and make a difference.

These are the people I most admire and who generally those who get the least recognition for what they do - because on the job description of the person who constantly has to shout "Booh" at the public meetings comes with it the legacy of "you're largely on your own mate". Another reason why Pride is so empowering and important. It was lovely to meet Mandy albeit briefly. It brought home a timely reminder that despite the obvious progress there's still lots of work to be done.

Until such time as we can eradicate hatred and ignorance and embrace the absolute need to share the love with like minded lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight people, the future of Pride is assured. I had a lovely day. I hope you did too.

PS The "Christian Right" are neither.