00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World. My name is Theo Houston Betts and today I'm out on the
00:03streets of Manchester to ask people about Pride Month. That's why we're on Canal Street,
00:08actually the beating heart of Manchester's gay village. In reality, across the world it can be
00:12quite difficult to be a part of the queer community, particularly in places where vitriol
00:16and anger are dressed up as some sort of sense of Christian values. There'll be difficulty for
00:21people from the trans community in this country as well. So the purpose of this video today is
00:25to try and send a message to those who are struggling to feel pride this month. We want
00:29you to feel safe, we want you to feel valued, we want you to feel comfortable in your own skin and
00:33that is the purpose of this video. So we're going to be asking people what pride means to them and
00:37asking them to send a message to you about why you should feel great about yourself regardless of
00:42sexuality or gender. You know Pride Month started obviously the Stonewall Riot so it's a nice time
00:46to reflect on people that have gone before, the history of the LGBT movement, to remember that it
00:53did begin as a protest. Not to say that we should dismiss the parties because protests and parties
00:58they're good bedfellows. But yeah I guess because I do the tours, like for me it's about the history
01:03and it's about remembering how we got here.
01:06They've been a month of like to have the recognition of it, but it highlights the struggles that people
01:14in the community have been through and I see it gives them a chance to feel more seen.
01:18For me Pride is an acknowledgement of the long historical struggles of multiple members of the
01:25queer community and the pioneering movements of multiple people who were facing oppression that
01:30kind of teaches us what we still need to keep doing and keep going through every day. And I think part of
01:36that is that we need to learn from previous waves of the queer movement and feminist theory to push
01:41towards a better future for everyone collectively. It was originally called Pride because not just that
01:47it's the opposite of shame, but Pride is one of the sins in a way. And I guess it's trying to rid yourself of shame
01:56and lead into the joy of Pride. Lean into the joy of being sinful. But obviously that's a very difficult
02:02thing to say to people in countries which experiences I can't even relate to because of the fear of violence
02:09and harassment. So I'm not sure. I'm in a position to give advice, but I just hope that people all around
02:14the world can lean into the messiness of being proud and rid yourself of shame.
02:21I think if anything, it's kind of coming back to that cliche from like the early 2010s of it does get better.
02:28But also, you know, we've gone through these fights before. We'll always probably go through similar fights.
02:34And I think it has got a lot better over the last even 20 years. Although we're at a dip and a low
02:41point right now, we will get collective, we will fight and we will get back to a better place.
02:48Hopefully it's just temporary. I hopefully have faith in humanity enough that it is just temporary.
02:53But I think it's a kind of stick with it because it will be worth it eventually.
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