Pride has certainly been the word on everyone’s lips this past week – and I hadn’t completely grasped the full meaning of “Pride” until very recently.
I was honored to be invited by our local British Consulate to join them on their float for LA Pride 2015.
In collaboration with the charity UKares and our favourite airline, Air New Zealand, they had managed to find an open-top, red London double decker bus, (a number 98 to be precise!) to lead the group along Santa Monica Boulevard. It was particularly special as the British Consulate are the first foreign government office to participate in LA Pride, which is quite something considering it started 35 years ago! It was very moving to see people on the sidelines appreciating this fact too – we received so many cheers as we marched along, although credit must go to the great British characters we had along for the ride – Craig was dressed as Bert to accompany the stunning Scott Kaske as Mary Poppins, David Bull and Fiona Harden were Absolutely Fabulous, not to mention our amazing dancers who included an homage to the Spice Girls as well as a groovin’ Austin Powers. There were so many great efforts – visit UKares.org for all the photos.
The parade has been a June fixture in Los Angeles for the entire time I have lived here. I was aware of the Stonewall riots, which were one of the pivotal moments for the annual demonstrations, but now with hindsight I think I mainly thought of Pride as ‘a fun weekend’ for the LGBT community and their friends to strut their stuff and show their solidarity in a mass worldwide celebration. I wasn’t fully appreciating the daily struggles many people still have to endure. Coming from London and then living in such a liberal state as California, it is easy to forget that not everywhere is so accepting and supportive of my friends in the LGBT community. In fact when the founders applied for their first permit for the LA parade in 1970, they were told by the chief of police ‘As far as I’m concerned, granting a parade permit to a group of homosexuals to parade down Hollywood Boulevard would be the same as giving a permit to a group of thieves and robbers.’
Although it is awful to hear, the fact that so much progress has been made since then is another reason that I was so proud to be marching on Sunday. I want to add an especially big thank you to Deputy Consul General Bernie Greene and Fiona Harden of UKares, for putting it all together and including me and a few other Brits in LA members in sharing such a special day. Regulars of Pride told me it was their favorite experience so far! Plus a massive shout out to Kerstin Alm (aka Mamarazzi) for capturing it all on her trusty camera!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line at eileen@britsin.la Make sure to visit us on Facebook as we have lots of great competitions and events coming up.
Cheers!
Eileen
(Pictures courtesy of Kerstin Alm and Ryan Wallace)
