Police in South Wales have stated that they have never stipulated who can and can’t attend.
In an initial email sent by organisers of Rhondda Pride to Leathermen Cymru, they alleged that South Wales police had made stipulations about who could and couldn’t attend the pride.
South Wales Police have set the record straight by releasing a statement saying, “just to confirm, our role at events such as this is public safety. We have played no part whatsoever in stipulating who attends”.
The pride has received a huge backlash over a now-deleted statement, in which the pride warned that “no bondage or sexualised costumes” were allowed as they were “trying to make this a safe space for under 18 LGBTQ+ individuals and families and a place for parents of young LGBTQ+ people who want to understand and support their children”.
“Picking and choosing”
The UK Pride Organisers Network said that it did not support the erasure of any part of the LGBT+ community. It went on to blast the event for “picking and choosing” who is and isn’t allowed to be at the event”.
We don’t support erasure of any part of our community. Rhonnda Pride you are NOT a Pride, you are a family fun day that is picking and choosing who is and isn’t allowed to be at your event. There is NO Pride in Exclusion! We are 1! #WeStandWithEveryone Together we are UKPON!
— UK Pride Organisers Network (UKPON) (@UKPrideNetwork) July 29, 2019
“We don’t support erasure of any part of our community. Rhonnda Pride you are NOT a Pride, you are a family fun day that is picking and choosing who is and isn’t allowed to be at your event. There is NO Pride in Exclusion! We are 1! #WeStandWithEveryone Together we are UKPON!
We may have to pull our event due to the actions of the BDSM community. This is a tragedy.
In a statement to THEGAYUK.com a spokesperson for the event said,
“We should start by saying that we are a small valleys Pride with a capacity for 500 maximum people plus a market. We only asked for no charity or political stalls due to the fact that we don’t have enough room to hold them. This was not exclusion this was practical. As for the Leathermen we have never banned leather, that is ridiculous. What we have requested is due to the family friendly nature of the event and the fact our headline act is 13 years old no BDSM wear or sexual costumes be worn. I don’t see any issues with wanting to be family friendly however we may have to pull our event due to the actions of the BDSM community. This is a tragedy for the LGBTQ + children, adolescents, teenagers, young adults and families who wanted to support an event of this nature.”
