Pride parades not well attended in some parts?

[Moonandstarzz]

I know pride as a whole was very toned down this month. The usual paraphernalia or pomp & ceremony wasn't displayed. I thought the parades would be well attended however there was a very poor showing in my town plus Dublin & Cork cities ones were also poorly supported.
Friends of mine in the lgb community said their was a huge appeal within the community for a big showing this year but it hasn't happened.
They boycotted pride as they say it no longer represents them & the vast majority of their friends did the same .

Is there similar pressure on gay men to sleep with transmen who are intact and present as male?

Agree with others, Pride for the most part has been hijacked. I would have watched in the old days, but not anymore.

I am also happy that lgb are seeing the light too. They do not deserve to be subsumed.

Not a single pride event in my local authority area this year.

I think there has been but less pressure on men as no need to “be kind” and subservient to the desires of women.

"people of her generation are less hung up about labelling their sexuality and just go with the flow, love is love etc". So maybe, slowly, homophobia might be reducing if the younger generations are more tolerant and less judgey and bigoted?

Hopefully. But the real question here is whether your daughter’s friends would judge a young lesbian who said that she was only attracted to other biological women, not to transwomen. Lesbians being attacked for ‘transphobic’ same-sex attraction is the new homophobia, and Stonewall & Pride are leading on it.

Interestingly I looked at those pictures in the reports earlier which were claiming pride was as well attended as ever and I saw what looked to me as sparse crowds. Having spent today at a carnival (not pride) and seen the heaving crowds it's really brought it home how quiet it looked in comparison in those reports

John Lewis, M&S, Ann Summers, MacDonalds, Schuh, Primark, Tiger, GAP (oddly enough, only in the children clothing display window)… I’m thinking which stores had window displays/stickers on Oxford St when I was there yesterday. I assume Lush do too and my local Tesco is bedecked with the awful extension flag. Body Shop didn’t but they are pushing for a Youth Parliament or something, as most politicians are too old and white for them (or something like that). I used to work on Tottenham Court Road and before covid the street had flags all along if, the Barclays had an arch of rainbows and the large Halifax had their outside decorated with a massive flag (the new one). Of course Soho has flags a-plenty and it was mostly the original flag, with an actual lesbian bar with lesbian flags (hadn’t been there for a while and thought there wasn’t any lesbian bars left! Lots of tourists/men though).

I did overhear a gay couple yesterday in Waitrose commenting on ‘all those extra stripes’ on a poster in the shop promoting pride. I couldn’t quite tell if they were pleased or displeased by it (one nudged the other to point it out and they stopped to discuss it. They certainly weren’t smiling though).

I’m feeling it’s more muted this year.

The turn out in Dublin didn't look that big to me either in the images linked above . Irish media like to put a huge positive gloss on anything rainbow related..

@BabyStopCryin definitely much more toned down.. High Street stores that had nothing symboling pride include River Island, Next & H&M.. No social media or online pride marketing either. They got my money just for that!

'In the weeks leading up to June, Rose Montoya noticed something concerning. Pride is usually a busy time for the influencer, who has over 800,000 TikTok followers and posts videos about trans rights and issues. But this year, she says, fewer brands have reached out.“I’ve spoken to a lot of my trans friends and colleagues, and we’ve all noticed less brands seeking partnerships and smaller budgets for Pride campaigns,” Montoya said. “It’s disappointing.”
After the legalization of marriage equality, Pride became a marketing opportunity for brands. Enticed by the spending power of the LGBTQ+ community – it reached over $1tn in 2021 – brands looked for ways to make their presence known at June events. But this year, some LGBTQ+ influencers say brands are showing less support than they have in the past.'

(Rose Montoya is the transwoman who did the breast-fondling on the White House lawn)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/13/lgbtq-influencers-pride-brands-boycotts-laws

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/01/business/pride-month-companies-reaction/index.html

'Although support for gay rights has increased over the years, gaining acceptance among most Americans, trans acceptance is a more contentious issue. About 43% of adults said society had “gone too far” when it comes to accepting people who are transgender, according to a March survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal and Norc.'

Those are both US focussed articles, just what I found with a quick google.

What they both focus on is the business/corporate aspects of Pride, which I think is quite telling. It's become a PR exercise.

Pressure groups and social movements are SUPPOSED to make themselves defunct, that's the whole point.

So maybe Pride has outlived its original purpose.

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/cork/news/cork-councils-slammed-for-stingy-8k-pride-sponsorship/a856579211.html

Main Cork pride parade is in August & they are whinging as they got 8,000 euro sponsorship which is a huge allocation for a parade of any sort..
Obviously the council has other things to spend it's money on like the current homelessness crisis, education, neurodiversity services, domestic violence services.. That 8,000 would go a long way to feed families in this cost of living crisis.
Good on Cork County Council for prioritising where they are allocating their money. I'm gathering big sponsors must be thin on the ground if there is this public outcry.

What has led you to the conclusion there was a very poor showing?

😂 so what's your source?

Do you think this reduction in support for transpride, coincides with Elon musk opening up twitter to free speech on women’s rights. The echo chamber has opened up and brands can now see how unpopular the erosion of womens and gay rights is.

Oops my apologies. Asked and not answered. That'll teach me not to be so trigger happy with the reply button!

Yes, Twitter feels very different these days. Only 3 years ago that JK Rowling received such abuse. Once we got past No Debate, people were, and are, starting to become more aware and more vocal. Snowballing effect.

Out in rl, banks are still heavily invested in Pride month. Massive window displays. Rest of the town, either small displays or nothing, in most cases. Nothing in our local Morrisons nor in Tesco. Nothing in Sainsbury's Local, but yes, Waitrose have gone all out. Which is strange, as it's mostly the elderly who seem to shop at our local one.

I'm sure that's part of it. I also think the UK census will have been a wake-up call. Only 3.2% of the population over 16 identify as gay or bi, and only 0.26% identify as trans or NB. It's just not worth pissing off the rest of the population for such a small market.

Of course, the sad thing is that, prior to the TQ takeover, brands didn't have to choose between supporting Pride vs upsetting the mainstream population, as the vast majority of the public had a "live and let live" attitude, even if they personally wouldn't have gone to Pride.

"people of her generation are less hung up about labelling their sexuality and just go with the flow, love is love etc". So maybe, slowly, homophobia might be reducing if the younger generations are more tolerant and less judgey and bigoted?

I could have been loitering too long on this board, or even be a little confused but I thought the "love is love" is aimed at reducing ages/consent and is something to be wary of, not embrace.

What's so funny about Twitter is that the TRAs are going crazy shout Elon's new, improved platform.. If they have such a problem why are they not boycotting twitter 🤣Log out & close all accounts. Statement made.
But no they are continuing to incessantly tweet their nonsense🤔

MAP related perhaps ??

I was out today at a little local town shopping centre, the only Pride decorations were in the charity shop windows.

I honestly think it is just an 'easy' way for companies to save money if they don't do anything.

Was it an Oxfam?

No, Barnardo's and the local hospice.

Not sure about the charity shops in my area but the town centre, independent cafes hairdressers & restaurants were all really pushing father's day hard this year, no pride marketing whatsoever..
My gay friends have a little baby boy, they were delighted to see all the fuss made out of father's day & enjoyed their double celebrations immensely..

Unless there are sources publishing numbers, it's not possible to "prove" that the crowds were good or bad. Anecdotes are about as good as it gets. Photos aren't really more revealing because they can easily be taken in a time or place that gives a misleading impression, making it seem busier, or emptier, than the overall event. That's not necessarily an attempt to mislead, it's often just chance, and photographers tend to prefer full crowd pictures.