Pride

It rained. It poured. It was a terrible shame... By my reckoning, three of the last four Liverpool Pride days have been hampered by inclement weather and my heart goes out to the organisers who've given so much of their own time to putting on a wonderful day only to be let down by the British summer.

Still, the hardy crowds turned out this morning to hear speakers including Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, Labour MP Stephen Twigg and Mike Jackson the co-founder, back in 1984, of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). If you've ever seen the film 'Pride' you'll know all about him.

The march set off just as a fresh heavy downpour set in but the atmosphere was very jovial as Spokes and I completed the route with our friend Chris who's just back from 6 months in Spain and is even more upset by the weather than we are! People lined the route in support - with the exception of the, by now traditional, group of people who stand at the Victoria monument with their 'You'll burn in hell' style placards...

After the march we decided to go back to mine for a change of clothes as we were soaked to the skin despite our rainwear but we went back into town for a bite to eat and a visit to Picturehouse's travelling cinema - a hundred-seater cinema in the back of a truck! - for a screening of 'Pride' introduced by the aforementioned Mike Jackson (he was played in the film by Joseph Gilgun) and with 6 other LGSM members present. I cried the first time I saw the film and I cried again today. Tears of anger, upset, joy and hope.

Given the appalling weather, I hardly took any photos this year as I wanted to prevent my camera from getting waterlogged. But these colourful characters were a bit of a gift! See also the 'Extras' of Mike Jackson and a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence.