Latest Pride news
Men in Uniform, Men in Frocks, Glamour Boys, Glamour Girls and An Alien Invasion
Published: 26/08/07
It must be Manchester Pride's Big Parade.
Thousands of people turned out in force to see the Manchester Pride Parade on Saturday 25 August.
More than 70 floats took part in the colourful parade from the emergency services and caring professions to charities, groups, clubs, councils and even aliens!
More than 130 police officers and staff from forces around the country took part in what was the largest police presence ever in a pride parade.
Not to be outdone the Fire Service got temperatures soaring with a fully working fire engine (not to mention the sexy firefighters). The entry came complete with wailing siren throughout the entire duration of the Parade.
The British Youth Council handed out postcards to encourage supporters of the Stop Homophobia in Poland campaign to write to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, while Manchester’s Icebreakers group celebrated 21 years in helping gay men to come out with a strong show of support.
The Museum of Science and Industry’s current Doctor Who exhibition featured characters from recent episodes including a scarecrow from ‘The Family of Blood’, clockwork killers from ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’, and the Sycorax from ‘The Christmas Invasion’.
Back down to earth (and almost reality) with the Salford Ladies Temperance Society urging ‘Clap for the Gays’ and ‘Fag Buts are Dirty’. The very senior S.L.U.T ladies really would have had much more in common with the elderly objectors with messages of religious objection lining the parade (when will they be given their own float?)
Ever seen a Pink tank? Well Sparkle made a forceful display with their suitably decorated gunning entry while Manbears got themselves into a bit of a lather offering the best service wash in town comprising of ‘Bearlylogical fluff and buff’ and ‘ the best hand finish in Manchester’.
Sports teams were well represented with the likes of VMFC and Village Spartans (just how can you play with your balls and take part in the parade at the same time?)
The promotion boys from Essential and Uni Challenge were suitably pumped and primed (do those guys get bigger every year?) Poptastic wore their hearts on their chests and the vanilla girls brought their own giant rainbow flag.
'No Blame’, ‘No Shame’, ‘No Crime’, read George House Trust’s float in support of all those affected by HIV, while The Lesbian and Gay Foundation enlisted the help of Big Brothers Seany to get across the message of ‘Are we going to let homophobia keep happening to us?’
The Royal College of Nursing brought their own superman, HM Prison Service embraced pride across their work with a colourful float, SARP Asian LGBT project brought a touch of Bollywood to Manchester and Purple Chris did his best to match his fundraising record, collecting donations alongside Manchester Pride’s busy volunteers.
We’ll update you on fundraising amounts later next week. You’ll just have to look at our online gallery for the rest of the entries! Pics are being constantly updated as they come in.
