Leicester Pride 2017!

On September 2nd, I walked in the Leicester Pride parade.

I did this with my workplace, who had a spot in the parade and allowed employees to come along and take part. My girlfriend joined us, as thankfully my workplace allowed her to come along with us and we had a fun time.

We prepared at a local store, with bright orange t-shirts, rainbow flags and face paint and headed onto The Curve to take our places and get ready to walk to Victoria Park with the parade.

Leicester Pride, unfortunately, isn't quite as big as Birmingham Pride which is the one I have attended in the past but it was still fun to walk with people, see those who were watching us walk together through the town and streets. As we headed towards the park, we gained people who were watching or simply waiting for it to arrive where they were which, at the time seemed weird but looking back, I'm glad it happened as it's nice that everyone can come along and take part in the parade. The closer we got, the more people we gained.

We also walked past a couple having some wedding photos taken, I can't imagine a massive crowd of people is the ideal background to your wedding photos but they didn't seem to mind and we all cheered them on. Later on, we also went past another wedding that I assume had finished and once again, the crowd cheered for them. 

Once we reached the park, we split off from the parade and those who we walked with, and walked around to see what stalls were set up. Although I attended Leicester Pride last year, we arrived late so it was pretty much over and we were also a bit too drunk to wander around and look at anything so it was nice to see what was there.

The first stall we visited was Stonewall. We had a photo taken with a board that said we were campaigning for equality that would be posted on their instagram (it still hasn't been posted, or I'd steal the photo for this post). I got myself a tote for £2 and two posters and some stickers that they were giving out for free. I'd have loved to have treated to myself to a t-shirt as well but I didn't think to bring extra cash!

We continued to walk around and visit the different stalls and also grabbing some goodies along the way. While it was nice to help causes and support what we could, it also felt like some of the stalls saw an opportunity to get people in which I honestly didn't appreciate. It's Pride, it shouldn't be about some company offering to save you money on your bills..

When walking in the parade, we saw a variety of flags and once we reached the park, we found a stall that was selling the different LGBTQIA flags which I thought was great, better than selling just the basic rainbow flag. I got my girlfriend a Genderqueer flag and afterwards, saw a few people also with the same flag which again, I thought was great. 

The Genderqueer flag, now hanging in the window!

After visiting the stalls, we enjoyed pride the same way as everyone else: chilling in the sun with a drink! Eventually, we decided to call it a day and head back into town to catch our bus home, but not before grabbing a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts because who can resist a good donut?

Overall, it was a great day and I'm thankful that not only did I get to attend pride but I got to be apart of the parade. I hope that Leicester Pride can continue to grow and be a safe, fun space for the local LGBTQIA community.