Officer’s Blog- LGBT+ Officer
The 1st September 2012 was a pretty monumental day for Cardiff. The first LGBT Pride march to ever take place in the city formed part of the Mardi Gras celebrations! On the Thursday before the big day, a number of LGBT+ students gathered in The Kitchen to make placards, banners and to learn some fun chants (following the NUS policy that ‘Pride is a protest’). There was an interesting mix of slogans, ranging from the fun ones - “Dumbledore Was Gay” - through to the more serious -“No Child Is Born Homophobic”.
Meeting outside the Union at the ridiculously early time of 10am on Saturday, we handed out our printed fair-trade t-shirts, and gathered together the groups that would represent the Students’ Union’s support for our LGBT+ students. Full time officers, part time officers, a number of representatives from the AU and members of the LGBT+ association all came together to stand in solidarity and join in the fun.
The march was a long procession following a float, with groups from a large number of organisations – although, unsurprisingly, CUSU were by far the loudest! The crowd of spectators along St Mary’s Street seemed particularly amused by our chants of “2, 4, 6, 8, how do you know your kids are straight?” The crowd were clearly having just as much fun as those in the parade, and appeared to embrace the message we were yelling: “2, 4, 6, 8, stop the violence, stop the hate, 3, 5, 7, 9, human rights are yours and mine!”
The parade finished in Cooper’s Field, where thousands of people, of all sexual orientations and gender identities, gathered together to celebrate diversity. A wide variety of performers entertained the masses, whilst stands from a number of different groups demonstrated the diversity and Pride of many LGBT people in the workplace. An amazing day was had by all - lasting until 6am for a number of hardcore party-goers! I can’t wait for next year, which should be bigger and better. Hopefully we shall see some of you there!
Jack Oakley
LGBT+ Officer
