Helping to organise the first Pride 1996
1996
Trevor joined the Birmingham Pride committee (The Triangle Committee) in November 1996, which was set up to organise the first Pride in May 1997. Trevor was the Secretary; there were about ten people involved on the executive committee and they brought in other people. Bill Gavan was Chair, and they often held their weekly planning meetings at Subway City or The Wellington. Trevor says, “Everyone was flabbergasted that Birmingham had pulled it off. They thought it was going to be an extension of ‘Five Days of Fun on Partners’ car park! There were about ten thousand people, or more, in Hurst Street. It was a beautiful day; quite surreal really. All these gay people dressed up to the nines with balloons etc. There were community stalls and the commercial venues provided the beer and dance tents. It was a cooperative effort between the community and commercial interests. What was so nice about it was being in Birmingham and holding hands and kissing on our own patch and it worked. This was about being out and out there, this wasn’t London or Manchester. It was another big step for the Birmingham LGB community, after the period of HIV/AIDS and Clause 28 in the late 80s. The next important step was when the Parade was introduced; personally I think that it’s the most important feature of Pride. Not this year though. It was too wet. I may be out and proud, but I’m not going to get pneumonia”.
Contributed by: Trevor Sword, 50