Trip hazard, indeed
So, two weeks in a row we sat around in the Town Gardens watching archly femme characters in sequins and spangles dance around doing camp renditions of popular music. At the Mela there probably was less “tucking,” but at Swindon Pride there was a much weirder vibe, which I especially appreciate.
Elvis impersonators at gay festival...good. If they aren't hard butch lesbians...bad (or at least the promoters didn't try very hard
We showed up after the parade had already departed so walked through the deserted grounds to catch it as it came back through. Made up of about 200 souls and trailing on for no more than 300 meters front to back it was a surprisingly brief parade. My home town (Atlanta) is known as something of a gay Mecca and I’ve had countless conversations with drag queen prostitutes whilst awaiting buses or friends out on Piedmont or Ponce de Leon; so, I might be a bit jaded: the Atlanta Pride Parade goes on for hours and features an endless variety of, erm, variety.
Turnout was a bit light, or at least the NUMBERS that turned out were low.
But, Swindon is quite small by comparison and that they have a festival like this at all is kind of cool. Also kind of cool, it is obvious while sitting around people-watching that most of the folks there are not gay, bisexual, transgendered or even considered the possibility of an encounter with these folk the festival is ostensibly intended to serve. You have to smile when you think that some of the more stylish folk amongst the target audience wonder, “is this REALLY what we’ve been struggling for all these years?” Yep, look around and see all the poorly dressed and sit-up-deficient Swindians…this is exactly what you’ve fought for. Welcome to the hell the rest of us must deal with.
This was part of the parade. Seriously, hashers (STRAIGHT hashers) would show up in more outrageous numbers and ostentation. C'mon, bitches...show us some outrage, or out...rage. I hate the modern world.
One thing I enjoyed was the treasure hunt a youth group had put together. You had to get at least three of the items on their list to get a prize bag from them; I picked up an info pack from the local college, a goody bag from Unison (a local LGBT support group) and got the names of some of the coppers working security for my 3 items. Among the stuff in my youth group prize bag were this surprisingly small purple cock ring and this toy that is “not a toy…a souvenir.” I’m sure this distinction helps the kids (gay or straight) in the sweatshops that manufactured it and cheap tat like it sleep better at night.
Fuzzy "souvenir" and small cock ring (they claim it is a "wrist band," right?) given as treats by the LGBT youth group at Swindon Pride 2011
The Endless British Pub Crawl 
Trip hazard, indeed
So, two weeks in a row we sat around in the Town Gardens watching archly femme characters in sequins and spangles dance around doing camp renditions of popular music. At the Mela there probably was less “tucking,” but at Swindon Pride there was a much weirder vibe, which I especially appreciate.
Elvis impersonators at gay festival...good. If they aren't hard butch lesbians...bad (or at least the promoters didn't try very hard
We showed up after the parade had already departed so walked through the deserted grounds to catch it as it came back through. Made up of about 200 souls and trailing on for no more than 300 meters front to back it was a surprisingly brief parade. My home town (Atlanta) is known as something of a gay Mecca and I’ve had countless conversations with drag queen prostitutes whilst awaiting buses or friends out on Piedmont or Ponce de Leon; so, I might be a bit jaded: the Atlanta Pride Parade goes on for hours and features an endless variety of, erm, variety.
Turnout was a bit light, or at least the NUMBERS that turned out were low.
But, Swindon is quite small by comparison and that they have a festival like this at all is kind of cool. Also kind of cool, it is obvious while sitting around people-watching that most of the folks there are not gay, bisexual, transgendered or even considered the possibility of an encounter with these folk the festival is ostensibly intended to serve. You have to smile when you think that some of the more stylish folk amongst the target audience wonder, “is this REALLY what we’ve been struggling for all these years?” Yep, look around and see all the poorly dressed and sit-up-deficient Swindians…this is exactly what you’ve fought for. Welcome to the hell the rest of us must deal with.
This was part of the parade. Seriously, hashers (STRAIGHT hashers) would show up in more outrageous numbers and ostentation. C'mon, bitches...show us some outrage, or out...rage. I hate the modern world.
One thing I enjoyed was the treasure hunt a youth group had put together. You had to get at least three of the items on their list to get a prize bag from them; I picked up an info pack from the local college, a goody bag from Unison (a local LGBT support group) and got the names of some of the coppers working security for my 3 items. Among the stuff in my youth group prize bag were this surprisingly small purple cock ring and this toy that is “not a toy…a souvenir.” I’m sure this distinction helps the kids (gay or straight) in the sweatshops that manufactured it and cheap tat like it sleep better at night.
Fuzzy "souvenir" and small cock ring (they claim it is a "wrist band," right?) given as treats by the LGBT youth group at Swindon Pride 2011
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