2003 – Stoke Pride Cancelled
The North Staffs Lesbian and Gay Community Forum had attempted to organise Stoke’s first Pride event back in 1998. The Rainbow Forum made plans to hold a gay pride event on May 11th 2003. The resulting backlash from from local residents and BNP Councillors led to the difficult decision that the event had to be cancelled. The organisers had even been subjected to death threats.
The pages of the above issue of community magazine Bona Varda published in April 2003 sets out the sad news of the cancellation. On a back page article the editor goes on to say –
“One thing various people have commented on, is that we have all had a wake up call. In recent years we have lulled ourselves into a false sense of security, thinking the fight for equality is over. Yet there are still people, all around us, who think we should not be treated with the common respect th.at we and every other human being deserves. Numerous phone calls and letters have graphically proved this, and some from within the Gay Community”. (Bona Vada, April 2003, Page 4)
Despite the hostility various events were organised by community activists in the years that followed until in 2006 The Club and Three Tuns along with other established venues hosted the “Big Pink CarPark” event. This was the first event that could properly be called Stoke Pride.
Find Out More …
Read about the gay festival planned in 1998 If this had gone ahead it would have been Stoke’s first gay pride.
Read about the first event that could properly be called Stoke-on-Trent Pride including some photos of early Pride events
