First ever gay pride march in Gloucester

Saturday saw hundreds of people out in Gloucester for the Rainbow Day march. I joined Green party members supporting the event - no other political parties were there but the event had support from the County Council - we may indeed be the first County to fly the rainbow flag at our Shire Hall. This is great stuff - we need to do much more to tackle the discrimination that still takes place - homophobic bullying in workplaces and schools is still far to common - it was only last month we saw two men convicted of the homophobic murder of Stroud man Jody Dobrowski.

If we are serious about justice and equality we need to ensure homophobic acts are seen as completely unacceptable throughout the world. The poem by Martin Niemoeller, a victim of the Nazis comes to mind:

When the Nazis came for the Communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the jews, I did not speak out; I was not a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Certainly next year I would love to see all 6 Gloucestershire District Councils flying their flags in support of this day. I have already been in contact with various people to see whether that might be possible.

See more info about the march using search engine at our website or on Indymedia.