Why Cardiff Pride Is Possibly The Worst Thing In Existence

Posted by AddictedToDrPepper1 from Cardiff - Published on 21/08/2014 at 12:29
4 comments » - Tagged as Culture, Festivals, People, Topical

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of theSprout.co.uk

Before I get labelled as some homophobic piece of trash for the title of this article, I would like to point out that I am trans-male.

I have been living as a man for a few years now and despite the fact I am very proud of who I am and the majority of others in the LGBTQ+ community.

I have done many things over the past few years to help promote equality and education on sexuality and gender.

Yet I completely despise the Cardiff Pride LGBT Mardi Gras festival and refuse to have anything to do with it.

Although I remember going to Mardi Gras with my mother when I was young, my first real experience of Pride was when I was a young teenager who back then identified as a lesbian natal female. The person I was back then was very much accepted by people of the community (both my age and older) and I found this beyond valuable, as I was having a real difficult time accepting myself.

However things have clearly changed; a few years down the line I became more aware of who I really was and began transition from female to male. Since then Mardi Gras hasn't been the same. This is probably down to three things:

The first is that I had realised that the vibe of Mardi Gras, like most pride events, were more about LGBs (who can be surprisingly transphobic) and 'straight allies' than it was about the actual community as a whole.
The second was that I had noticed how much homophobic and transphobic physical and verbal violence was actually taking place during the festival from people who just came to get drunk and cause trouble.
The third was because I had become more politically active and aware — the presence of the sponsors such as Admiral had not only become more apparent to me but to the festival as a whole and the festival began charging more than ever to get in. The focus of Mardi Gras had shifted greatly from a platform for people to express themselves to a platform for conservative parties who had clearly paid off the sponsoring companies to demonstrate their 'approval' of the community in an attempt gain votes.

The taste in the air had gone from a vibrant pallet of self-expression and belonging to that of stale, sleazy and unsettling corporate and transphobic bulls***. I no longer felt safe even though it was meant to be one of the places LGBTQ+s could feel safe.

Luckily last year Cardiff hosted a Comic Convention, so I was distracted from the bleak concept that Mardi Gras was now charging £9 per entry (not including re-entry later on). There was also a picnic event held in Bute Park that I went to with some friends afterwards but this year the alternative celebrations were so oppressed by the corporatism of it all that if someone hadn't pointed out to me where The Big Queer Picnic was being held in Sophia Gardens, I wouldn't have been able to find it or see it at all.

This is so wrong and I'm not saying we should boycott Mardi Gras, but for the sake of actual Pride, basically I am.

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4 Comments – Post a comment

Tom_Bevan

Commented 21 months ago - 21st August 2014 - 12:36pm

interesting article, nice to see a different perspective on the event.

underwater

Commented 21 months ago - 21st August 2014 - 22:13pm

Maybe getting involved in the event by volunteering or just suggesting the things that you would like to see changed and by sharing your thoughts with the event organizers you could also be helping people that might feel the same as you- having a different opinion can help the pride team to develop the event and make it a happy experience for everyone.

http://www.pridecymru.co.uk/get-involved/

Sam Sprout (Editor)

Commented 21 months ago - 22nd August 2014 - 09:07am

Here's that link all hyperlinked and stuff - http://www.pridecymru.co.uk/get-involved/

Pasternak

Commented 21 months ago - 22nd August 2014 - 14:05pm

As with everything you write, this is a brilliant piece which shines an important light on things. I love the idea of Mardi Gras, but I still feel Pride Cymru is finding its feet (and support underwater's suggestion above to help better shape it for the future).

I found the event quite a surreal experience - and I'm not talking about the drag queens, giant Angry Bird or the flamboyant clothing... I'm talking about walking past three different political parties who all tried convincing me "A vote for [insert party name] is the ONLY path to equality!"; about being flyered by supermarket chains who now have an "LGBT Division" (huh?); about having to pay quite a lot to enter Bute Park only to then be told "you can't leave and re-enter - if you leave to get some real food, meet friends who can't afford the entry fee, or simply want or need to leave for a few hours and then return YOU CAN'T." I wanted to attend the Big Queer Picnic, and it looked like there was quite a nice gathering of people just outside the gate, but as I couldn't join them without being denied re-entry I don't really know. :s

I also spent quite a bit of my time stepping over comatose people (I got the feeling they'd been told they couldn't take drinks in, so had chugged a LOT of alcohol in a very short space of time before entering) which really ruined the family-friendly atmosphere I'm used to.

There was some great stuff at Pride Cymru and overall I enjoyed the event, but I hope they listen to people's negative accounts and work with us toward creating an event that is enjoyed by everyone.

The Sprout