It is great that so many of Britain's African, Asian, Caribbean
and Arab (Black) LGBT and other people came together to support the
UK Black Pride event on Saturday 18 August at the Ministry of Sound
in London.
The fact is that everyone was made to feel welcome in the
comfort of a world-famous venue, with its state-of-the-art
facilities, sleek designs and unrivalled music and
entertainment.
Just as important to remember though are the reasons why we
continue to need a Black Pride event that is both social and
political; that is safe and sustainable; and that is representative
and inclusive.
Whilst UK Black Pride normally has an outdoor event, one of UK
Black Pride's Director's Pav Akhtar said: The scale of this British
summer's bad weather posed a real risk of flooding to the original
outdoor venue at Kennington Park, so moving the UK Black Pride 2012
event to the world famous state of the art Ministry of Sound venue
is a perfect way to ensure we have an excellent community event,
with all the food, drink, friendship, entertainment, market stalls,
and pride that you can shake your stick at.
Since its inception in 2005, UK Black Pride has worked from
inside the Black LGBT community to support Black and LGBT people
who are grappling with the rampant racism and homophobia that
continues to blight sections of Black and LGBT communities, while
supporting individuals to come to terms with their sexuality and
identity within their own communities. UK Black Pride gets many
requests for help and advice on issues ranging from coming out and
family relationships, to domestic abuse and immigration issues. It
works closely with experts and agencies including UKLGIG, the Human
Dignity Trust and Stonewall to advise Black LGBT people on how to
access the support and resources they need.
In its seven years of active service, UK Black Pride has grown
in scale by 700% yet it retains its founding principle as a
not-for-profit community-led entity run exclusively by unpaid LGBT
volunteers with the support of the wider Black and LGBT family. As
UK Black Pride continues to reach out to engage and inspire other
groups to be bigger, better and more inclusive in their activities
and ambitions, it shows that the negative tide of racism and
homophobia can be turned through the projection of positive and
realistic impressions of the lived experiences of many Black and
LGBT people.
It is really significant that despite having no public funding,
UK Black Pride has managed to win the publicly voted for Pink Paper
Readers' Award for 'best BME organisation' 2011 and Stonewall's
Community Award in 2011 because it is widely recognised as
promoting a better understanding and acceptance of the nature and
scale of challenges faced by Britain's Black LGBT communities to
address these groups' needs and aspirations. The
challenges, of course, are just as likely to surface from within
the communities to which Black LGBT people belong as they are from
the outside.
The internal pressures include chronic under-representation and
under-engagement of Black LGBT people in 'mainstream' Black or LGBT
community activities. This owes as much to an involuntary and
historic exclusion - both conscious and unconscious - as well as
the lack of effective voice to orientate 'mainstream' Black or LGBT
activities to accurately reflect Black LGBT peoples' non-binary
reality as shaped by their race, religion, gender and sexuality.
The consequence of this lived experience has been that Black LGBT
people, who are touched by both racism and homophobia among other
prejudices, are not entirely or effectively reflected in either
Black or LGBT mainstream activities on their own terms or in a
manner in which they are comfortable. This experience often leads
to Black LGBT people being presented with an impossible choice of
embracing one aspect of their identity over another at different
intervals and in parallel realities.
UK Black Pride works to bridge this divide by creating
non-judgemental opportunities for Black LGBT people, friends and
supporters, to come together to celebrate multiple identities and
experiences with pride and without expectation to own, reject or
justify anything to anyone. It permits taking pride in being who
you are as determined by yourself - devoid of the inhibiting social
or cultural stereotypes that are often projected upon groups.
The external pressures include the continuing marginalisation of
many Black and LGBT communities; the dismantling of public and
private services for Black and LGBT people including access to
vital healthcare, education and welfare support; the erosion of
social and democratic institutions including access to community
led and locally based groups; and the growing tide of intolerance
towards Black and LGBT people in a context of severe economic
inequality and financial instability which disproportionately
impacts on Black and LGBT people. All these have contributed to an
environmental degradation which has prompted a spike in racist and
homophobic hate crime. Alarmingly, this reality has led to Black
LGBT people being exposed to greater risk of hate crime from
different quarters but serious concerns about the capacity of
statutory bodies to meet the needs of LGBT communities.
UK Black Pride's work to support Black LGBT people shows that
when statutory or community based support networks are not in place
to help deal with this reality many Black LGBT people are left
isolated and facing the impossible choice to embrace one aspect of
their identity over another or being forced into a
soul-destroying closet.
Ultimately, what is being sought by the organisation of an
annual UK Black Pride festival is social, spiritual and political
nourishment that will give succour to those confronting the
double-edged bigotry of racism and homophobia.
For these reasons, we should all get involved and be sure to
continue to support UK Black Pride. We thank our sponsors such as
Stonewall, PCS and UNISON in making it all possible and
importantly, the community of which UK Black Pride was built
on.
PICTURED: PHYLL AND BEN SUMMERSKILL AT UK BLACK PRIDE
2012
PHOTO CREDIT: CHRIS JEPSON (CHRISJEPSON.COM)
