Rhondda Pride has faced a huge backlash after it said that people wearing bondage and kink attire were not welcome at its event.
A pride in Wales has outraged many in the LGBT+ community after it said it was excluding political parties, religious organisations, charities and anyone wearing bondage or “sexualised costumes” effectively erasing a number of communities from its event.
Leathermen Cymru had asked to be involved with the event but were told that “certain groups who are not family-friendly” were not permitted to attend. It said that Leathermen and its sexual connotations did not “sit well in an event of this nature”.
It also said that the police had made stipulations on the pride, THEGAYUK.com has reached out to South-Wales Police for clarification.
“Safe Space for under 18s and their parents”
In a now-deleted statement, 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”.
It continued, “Over 18s LGBTQ+ are going to have a fun, inclusive event without politics, religion and over-sexualisation of the community.
“Our acts on stage will be suitable for all ages”.
“We are celebrating our rights in an open way. Pride is about celebration and acceptance”.
The Tweet and both the organisation’s Twitter and Facebook account have since been removed.
Calls for resignations
Many in the community felt that Rhondda Pride’s policy went against the spirit of pride and some were calling for a change in policy or for those in charge to stand down.
Nick wrote, “This nonsense contributes to the homophobia still aimed at GBQ ppl (men esp), suggesting that our sexual practices are depraved & that we are a sexual threat to children. It is the antithesis of gay liberation. I hope that the organising committee will review this or stand down”
This nonsense contributes to the homophobia still aimed at GBQ ppl (men esp), suggesting that our sexual practices are depraved & that we are a sexual threat to children. It is the antithesis of gay liberation. I hope that the organising committee will review this or stand down.
— Dr Nick McGlynn (@nikku_man) July 29, 2019
Buster added, “Pride is about acceptance, and you are having none of it. You should hang your heads, as you promote division in the community & exclude others so you can appeal to straight people. Call yourself Mardi Gras if you want, but don’t act like you have any Pride in our great community.
https://twitter.com/BusterBDSM/status/1155935178188918784
While Mr Leather Wales wrote, “This is exactly the kind of whitewashing Pride should be protesting against”.
https://twitter.com/MrLeatherWales/status/1155938454313635840
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!
Pride responds: This is very upsetting to all of us.
The organisers of the pride have claimed that there has been a lot of “hatred” stirred up against them and it was “very upsetting to all of us”
Writing on their Facebook page they wrote, in a now-deleted message, “Hello everyone. We wanted to put on a small valleys Pride which was child friendly. Unfortunately asking members of the community not to wear BDSM clothing and bring their boyfriends on dog leads has caused a backlash. We have at NO POINT asked anyone not to wear leather we asked for family friendly costumes.
“The aggressive nature of the hatred being stirred up by the Leathermen and their allies is now being made personal against our organisers. We have therefore suspended our social media temporarily.
“The Leathermen are apparently writing to various equality groups to get our small valleys Pride shut down before it’s even started.
“A family friendly event with no politics, bondage, overt sex or sexualised costumes is not what parts of the community want. I have been even emailed that Pride cannot be family friendly. This is very upsetting to all of us. If you want this Pride to happen then please stand up for us against this hatred.”
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.”
‘As for the Leathermen we have never banned leather, that is ridiculous’
A suggestion: Gather a mass of leathermen in full BLUF to attend (with a printed screenshot of said statement) and test the event’s mettle should it proceed. Also, the deliberate exclusion of the rubber community in that statement is interesting (among many others) and suggests a desperate attempt to save face while also trying to play a victim game of ‘oh look at the bad people being mean to our exclusionary event’.
Furthermore, if the reason for no religious/political stalls was space, they should have talked about that in their initial statement as that reasoning so late reads as hasty excuse (regardless of initial intent / truth behind it) due to context. In the same way, to ask for no explicitly sexual outfits would have been acceptable as there’s plenty of ways to show pride in kink that aren’t dicks and breasts to the wind.
Overall this looks like an event that may have had good intentions, but went so far to try and avoid any kind of topical controversies that it circled around and landed right back into them.
Is this being run by the straight community?