By Huddersfield Alternative Pride activists
On 4 July 1981, 2,000 people from the LGBTQ+ liberation movement came to Huddersfield from all across the country to protest police oppression and brutality against customers of Gemini, a local gay bar. Today, queer people face yet another assault on our rights. The trans community in particular is among the most persecuted targets of the government, the courts and the far right, with the recent EHRC guidelines effectively trying to exclude trans people from participating fully in society.
It was in this context that on Saturday 4 July, a political Pride march was held in Huddersfield, to bring together the movement and its supporters on the 45th anniversary of Huddersfield’s first march. We came together again to say that we will take no more, and to build the fight for queer liberation!
Establishment barriers
Unsurprisingly, building for the march was not straightforward, with the council attempting to put barriers in the way of the march. Prides run by Kirklees Council over previous years were run as depoliticised ‘celebrations’. When Alternative Pride members had attempted to bring a political character to the Pride events, this was consistently refused by the council. In one case, they even got the police to take the details of our organisers for daring to bring Pride back to its roots – a radical, protest-based and political movement.
Becuase of this, for the previous two years, Alternative Pride has had two successful marches in Huddersfield. This has brought together particularly young radical LGBTQ+ people who wanted more than just a celebration – they wanted to direct their anger and frustration at attacks on our trans siblings. Off the back of these protests, Socialist Alternative and Alternative Pride were approached to be part of a wider community-led pride.
Kirklees Council claimed they did not have the capacity to organise a Pride event this year, and instead would be handing ‘control’ over to ‘the community’. We welcomed this opportunity and got involved with initial organising and building work. The intention was to have a march that would follow in the radical traditions of the town, with a rally at the end hearing from speakers along with events over the weekend, including a documentary about 1981.
But the ‘control’ that Kirklees Council said they would give to the organising committee soon evaporated, particularly in regards to the march.
We were assigned a council-approved route that barely resembled the 1981 march, against the plans of the Pride organisers. This route would have taken us past two car parks, down a tunnel, and briefly into the town centre before quickly redirecting us back out again. Hardly a visible march that would show our defiance against the attacks on trans rights! Many rightly felt as if they were being hidden away.
Socialist Alternative and Alternative Pride supporters argued against accepting this proposed route from the council. Despite this, the majority of the organising committee chose to keep working alongside the council. This was largely explained in terms of the funding they would receive if the link wasn’t cut.
But the obstruction from the council didn’t end there. The council told this committee that all stewards would need to be trained to close the roads at a gigantic cost of £700, as well as hiring a company and vehicles to close them for us, which would have cost thousands more!
Socialists refuse to be intimidated
As previous years’ marches confirmed, these steps were simply not necessary. They were all about frustrating the attempt to build a vibrant protest. Such costings made it impossible to hold a march under the direction of the council. In response, the majority of the committee voted to cancel it.
Despite this setback, members of Socialist Alternative and Alternative Pride took it upon themselves to keep organising and building for the march. We were clear that we didn’t need to seek or want the council’s approval for a march – Pride is a protest after all, not a movement that asks for approval!
With just over two weeks to go, we leafleted, postered, stickered and ran stalls to promote the day. Unsurprisingly, the council were very quick to post across social media that the march had been cancelled. Disappointingly, the Pride committee also put out similar messages, sowing confusion about whether anything was happening. Yet when people heard the march was going ahead anyway, they were both relieved and excited that there was a group not willing to back down.
The march goes ahead!
On the day itself, over 250 people marched with us, in defiance of not just the attacks on the queer community, but against the council’s obstacles.
The march was vibrant and loud, chanting against the attacks on our trans siblings, and for solidarity with refugees and workers under attack by this Labour government. Speaker after speaker talked about the difficulties queer people face today, and put forward a strategy of class-based struggle to show how we can push back.
Speakers from the National Education Union talked about the work their members are doing in schools and colleges to support young trans people, and were welcomed with applause by the protestors. An open-mic session took place to let the marchers speak up on what they have been facing. Speakers welcomed that the march went ahead, expressing their anger at the council’s attempts to close it down.
Plans are already being discussed to protest the council at their next full meeting on 15 July to let the councillors know we will not accept this kind of treatment. If they want to let the queer community run Pride, then let us do so without their interference!
This was an important step forward for building a fighting LGBTQ+ liberation movement in Huddersfield. Over the last three years, the marches have grown in size, reflecting a growing confidence, but also an urgent necessity to build a grassroots movement that is capable of pushing back and defeating the right-wing backlash. If you want to get involved, then join us in Alternative Pride and Socialist Alternative today!
