Does anybody else dislike Pride?

[coulditbeme2323]

Does anybody else dislike Pride?

We have one in our town for the second year running, and it's just really off.

Now before I get the "don't be homophobic comments" I am very much live and let live.

It's just that it can be very adult in the middle of the day.

What stats? Total number of Prides across the UK, total number of organisers. Then total number of convictions related to Pride...where is that?

Then comparison to the general population figures for sexual offending? Where is this?
Reports about lack of safeguarding at Pride events?
Have these things been posted?

Have these things been posted?

Yes, earlier in this thread here.

It's not my own work but it seems credible enough to respond to with some thought rather than deflection. If you think the numbers are wrong, where do you think they go wrong?

I've not made any claim about Pride not having safeguarding policies or having an overrepresentation of criminal offenders generally. The claim that seems prima facie worth taking seriously is that it has an overrepresentation of child sex offenders amongst officials.

This is absolutely not about "blaming a whole group for the action of a few individuals". Any more than all of the BBC was to blame for Jimmy Saville et al, or that all Catholics were to blame for abusive priests, or that all teachers are to blame for sex abusers in their ranks, or that.... etc etc etc.

My view is that decent Catholics, decent teachers, decent BBC staffers, decent LGBTQ people, being the vast majority, have no sympathy whatsoever for this behaviour and have no desire to deflect scrutiny or minimise. Change my mind if you think I'm wrong on that.

Are you saying that, as long as there aren't any safeguarding incidents at Pride events, it doesn't matter that a disproportionate number of the organisers are sexual offenders, @Anyahyacinth?

My concern is that Pride events are being used to groom the general public to accept things we would not have dreamt of accepting in public events in the past - people with dildos hanging out of their bottoms got mentioned earlier in this thread - or people in extreme fetish gear parading in front of children. We are told that we are bigots if we don't accept this behaviour in public, and if we don't celebrate children getting involved with the furries or the men on leashes, or the drag queens. This erosion of people's boundaries only makes it easier for more extreme fetish and sexual practices to be accepted - for example, paedophilia, which is now being 'rebranded' as MAP - Minor Attracted People - and has appeared under the umbrella of acceptance of people's sexual preferences.

I am not agin fetishes - I used to belong to the fetish community and attended a number of events - but they were ALL strictly adults-only, and I firmly believe that this is the right thing, and there are some things that are not suitable for public events in front of children.

It's a public event, with monitors and stewards, often police attendance...what offences do you think are getting missed?
The confessions about fetish just seems ridiculous...not my experience of Pride over decades...and it seems a fetish to describe to me. A sad titliiation in an imagination.

Shall we start banning dog leads and harnesses in case ....'oh the poor children'

Seems like the hyper sexualisation is in the viewer here

@Anyahyacinth

Is there any level of child sex abuse arrests of Pride officials that would persuade you that it’s legitimate to raise concerns?

Either absolute number or multiple of the general UK rate.

If so, what is that level?

Any evidence that Pride was being targeted by 'child sex abuse' offenders would be taken to MAPPA meetings do you have any evidence this has happened? That the offending is higher than the general population?
You are aware there are @67,000 people on the sex offenders register?
So your numbers?
How do they stand against the numbers for the non Pride population?
Are your Pride figures for offending in the community or specifically within Pride events on our streets?

Those figures were about offenders who are running pride events and organisations.

People were raising concerns about Stephen Ireland of Pride in Surrey for several years before he was finally convicted but they were dismissed as bigots (by police amongst others)

Surrey Police accompanied Ireland on a school visit a week after he had been arrested and questioned by them about sexual offences

So it isn't about organisations being scrutinised to safeguard against paedophilic predators, it's about Pride being scrutinised and to Hell with whether paedophiles are lurking within...:? Ah, got you now....

So we should disband the police, parliament, schools, the Church...because they've all had paedophile leaders?

That people don't believe children, women and victims of sexual crime...no that's a different and evidence based / fact based concern - that could be addressed. This thread is saying a handful of people represent the hundreds of thousands that participate in UK Prides.

P.s. you think all police are aware of all investigations within their force area as thry happen??

No its about posters wanting to believe that this is a special thing that applies only to Pride...sexual offenders exist in all communities.

No, pride doesn't need to be disbanded but neither should people be ignoring concerns when raised because a person is involved in pride.

Priests got away with abuse for years because they were treated as a sacred caste beyond reproach - the same attitude is being applied to concerns raised about anyone lgbt+ related and it has to stop.

That is absolute bollocks. Posters have made repeated comparisons to church, the BBC, teachers, etc. Noone here is saying that this is only Pride. The point is how the institutions respond.

The Pride supporters' response seems to be that we're monstrous, homophobic bigots for pointing out that some paedophiles hide in plain sight within the Pride Organisation.

Which bit do you disagree with?

In 2026 there were 270 Pride events across the country.

Each Pride event has between 5-10 officers/organisers. I took the higher number just to be on the safe side (and haven’t adjusted to assume any female Pride officers as that would bring the proportion up further).

Of those 2700 Pride officers, there has so far been 8 convictions for child sex offences (as detailed by PP).

That is far higher than the number of convictions for child sex offences in the general male population.

I’m happy for you to put forward your own figures to prove me wrong.

I’ve been as generous as I can with my assumptions to keep the rate of sex offenders within the group ‘Pride officers/organisers’ as low as possible and it’s still incredibly high compared with the general male population. That might indicate that there are aspects of the Pride events that are attracting a certain type of man.

Here is the Pride calendar I found - claiming to be the most reliable there is!

UK Gay Pride Events Calendar 2026
Here's the UK's biggest 2026 UK & Eire Pride Events Calendar. It's the UK"s most up to date list with over 270 prides taking place in 2026. And we're updating this list every week. This list is so reliable, it's the one the all the other pride websites in the UK copy!

gayprideshop.co.uk/pages/uk-ireland-gay-pride-events-calendar-2026?srsltid=AfmBOopMN539AHDBAaLD9cf_iayD1M8zCZMv3ZW-x6m7uLjQrGSJgXGX

An image from the Pride parade Reading 2016

www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/participants-annual-pride-march-through-streets-reading-5888577s

Disturbing.

Well that's fucking horrible.

It seems to have been taken off Shutterstock now? Pretty awful that whoever uploaded it didn't think there was anything amiss about it being on a standard stock image library.

So one picture from ten years ago. Anything more recent?

Why, you needing more pictures?

There are several more in this very thread. Get your head out of your arse and stop treating these people as a sacred caste.

It is the overly sexualised element that makes me find it a bit much.

But, have been around pride festivals before and the atmosphere is generally very happy and fun.

Well exactly...Pride isn't an institution its a rainbow aka a group of people ...so it doesn't need special attention based on the prejudice of posters here.

So all the criminality happened in a single year?? Your stats aren't adding up?

The same attitude isn't applied to Pride...this is a public open to anyone event...where do you believe the opportunities for offending occur?

This is interesting. I would like to know more about your sources, your sampling and your analytical methodology.