By Patrick Griffin.
Saturday saw the first ever Pride Parade in the Northern Ireland city of Derry/Londonderry and thousands of people turned out to mark the spectacularly colourful historic day.
Just 62 miles (100km) down the road in Belfast the gay community had been holding their annual pride marches for the past 20 years – however until now the time was not felt right to do the same in Derry.
Until 2pm on Saturday when the parade underway Derry was more well known for homophobic attacks with news reports saying gay hate crimes were on the increase in the city.
In fact just the day before the parade the Los Angeles Times was reporting the rise on attacks on members of the gay community in Derry.
The sub-headline to the article read: “Surveys show increasing awareness and disapproval of discrimination against gays and lesbians. But with religious identity and sectarianism still dominant forces, anti-gay rhetoric is not uncommon.”
So what would the local community make of the first public parade by members of the LGBT community from Derry and the surrounding area?
Would there be protests? Would it work? Would anybody bother to come out and watch? Would it be worth the many years of planning?
The answer to all four questions was ‘yes’ – there was a small protest, all agreed it worked just fine, thousands lined the streets and work is already underway for the next THREE annual Foyle Pride parades (In 2013 Londonderry becomes UK City of Culture and organisers are working now to ensure the Pride parade will be an extra spectacular event to mark the occasion.)
As for the the protests – there was one small religious protest – from a group of rather grim-faced Christians who stood behind a banner which declared: “Homosexuality Is Sin.”
Some read from a Bible and others carried placards - ‘the precious blood of Christ’ and ‘Repent ye, and believe the gospel,” being just two of them.
However all looked dour, their intolerance etched on frowning faces which remained grim despite many of the marchers smiling and waving as they passed.
Earlier in the day as a group of marchers made their way to the assembly area ahead of the parade one lady they passed was horrified at the sight which confronted her so she blessed herself and recited the ‘Hail Mary’ until the group had safely passed her by.
Apart from that there were no further protests, no trouble, no violence, nothing bad at all.
The march itself featured several hundred brightly dressed people walking in front of, alongside and behind a 200ft long rainbow flag which had been borrowed from Dublin.
Carried shoulder-high, the huge flag fluttered in the gentle breeze and was a magnet for the professional and amateur photographers who captured the event on cameras and mobile phones from every vantage point.
People photographed the banner and the parade from bridges overhead the march route, from the street side, from monuments they had scrambled up to get the best view, from shop and office windows and even from buses and cars as they drove past.
Throughout the day motorists sounded their horns in support as the parade followed the original 1968 civil rights march route from Duke Street Railway Station to Guildhall Square.
One of the organisers, Wendy McCloskey from Foyle Pride, said the event was an overwhelming success and had demonstrated that there was huge support within Derry for the gay community.
She said: “The response that we have been getting on the streets this last couple of weeks and the support the parade received shows that there has been a significant shift and the gay community is more accepted within this city now.”
SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan – who marched at the head of the parade – said it was important that the community showed their solidarity against homophobic attacks.
The colour and overall feel of the event is best expressed in pictures and a selection of photographs from the first Foyle Pride event are shown below.
* Patrick Griffin was invited to report on the event by The Rainbow Project and thanks them for their assistance and co-operation in compiling this article.
PG
