Taking pride

There were a couple of Pride events on the island yesterday: a dance in the evening, which I did not attend (200 unmasked people squeezed into the community hall? no, thank you) and an outdoor party in the afternoon, which I did.

In the morning there were reports of defaced posters and threats that the small, hideously homophobic element on the island might try to disrupt the proceedings. Shortly after we arrived at the outdoor gathering someone said they hoped the twats wouldn’t turn up. Au contraire, sez I, bring it on. I’d love to get in their hateful faces.

My friend Jean had the right idea: message t-shirts.

In case you can’t make out the message…

In the end the wankers stayed away. Good.

One of the most delightful things about this gathering were the number of families – of every possible persuasion – who were in attendance. Most of the island does teach its children well.

And the organisers did have the kiddies in mind. As well as the face painting you would expect and an area set aside for colouring, there was a drag story time.

If I am being entirely honest I was kinda hoping for more hair and sequins.

But hey, the point was made. Celebrate difference and be whoever you are.

Oh, okay, and now, because I’ve just seen this posted by a friend on Facebook…

Happy Pride, everyone!

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PS The amazing Chantaaaal did something surprising. She inspired me to watch Titanic last night for the first time. I have a bit of a thing about The Big Movie. I’ve never seen The Exorcist for that reason. It was years before I saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Silence of the Lambs and I only did after Mike and I got together and he insisted I had to see them. (As it happened, he had DVDs of both.) So, anyway, the verdict: Leonardo DiCaprio certainly was a cute boy back in those days and the film would have been improved considerably if it hadn’t included all the modern day footage with old Rose. Fast forwarded through most of that and I’m pretty sure I didn’t miss much.