People on the Street: Why YOU should be feeling proud this month

National World - LocalTV

We went out into Manchester’s Gay Village to ask people on the street about what Pride Month means to them and why it is so important for people across the world to feel comfortable and proud this month.

Transcript

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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