A small protest gathering did little to dampen the carnival spirit and flamboyant event that stormed the city at the weekend, writes FIONOLA MEREDITHin Belfast
BELFAST’S 21ST Pride parade was a loud, proud and colourfully flamboyant affair. Rainbow flags fluttered in the breeze as the enormous parade made its way down Royal Avenue towards City Hall, to the sound of whistles, defiant chants and cheers.
The parade marked the culmination of the week-long Belfast Pride Festival, which claims to be Ireland’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender festival.
Crowds of supporters, shoppers, tourists and children responded with smiles, curiosity or plain bemusement as men in green tutus and women in bumble-bee costumes danced by.
There were stilt-walkers in purple feathers, floats pumping out disco music, a samba band, and a man in a red Venetian frock-coat turning cartwheels along the street. An elderly woman in a wheelchair entered into the spirit of things with a leopard-print cowboy hat. And a tiny terrier, kitted out in a butterfly costume, marched proudly beside its owner.
One of the most striking aspects of this year’s Belfast Pride, which took place on Saturday afternoon, was the large numbers of young people – especially teenage girls – taking part, joining in with the Katy Perry song Firework at the top of their voices.
Protests by Christian groups have been a regular feature of Belfast Pride since the start. In 2006, Free Presbyterians protesters moved through the parade handing out pamphlets condemning the event.
In 2007, a row ensued when a young marcher waved a poster declaring “Jesus is a fag”. This year, marchers were met at City Hall by a gathering organised by the Stop The Parade Coalition, which had been granted permission for 100 people to protest. About 50, mostly older men, took part.
Corralled behind barriers, the protesters held up placards with Bible verses such as “the wages of sin is death (hell)” and “be sure your sin will find you out”. In response, one of the marchers, a man in a silver mask, brandished a placard saying “Jesus protect me from your followers”.
Rev David McIlveen and members of Sandown Free Presbyterian church hold an annual protest against the parade. This year, they appeared to be on a collision course with the Parades Commission after failing to obtain official permission for their gathering. Claiming that the commission was “a very uninviting place for Bible believers”, Rev McIlveen declined to notify the parades body of their “gospel witness against sodomy”.
In the event, the Free Presbyterians held a short meeting at the end of North Street, one hour before the parade began. Rev McIlveen said: “This is not a protest but a service of thanksgiving about what the Bible teaches on sodomy. The real issue is to be able to promote the Bible teaching that sodomy is a sin.”
While most of the Pride marchers ignored the protesters, one young man responded with an ironic rendition of the Monty Python song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
Danny McGann (17) said: “It’s more fun to protest against the protesters than it is to take part in the parade. I’d miss them if they weren’t here.”