What Is Exmouth Pride?

Exmouth Pride is delighted to be part of the worldwide Pride movement which celebrates LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender +) people and campaigns for equality. Our first Exmouth Pride was in 2015 with live music, information stalls and family inclusive entertainment. It was a landmark day for LGBT+ visibility in the town and Exmouth joined an ever-growing number of communities around the world celebrating Pride.

Since 2015 we have grown to be a glorious rainbow coloured annual fixture on the town’s calendar. Our yearly summer Exmouth Pride event is held in our lovely resort’s beautiful Manor Gardens. We have a reputation for awesome live music, LGBT+ themed workshops and information stalls, great refreshment opportunities and a wide range of entertainment for all the family.

We aim to keep our annual Pride event FREE, relying on generous donations and sponsorship as well as the fundraising efforts of our volunteers, friends and the local business community. This terrific free-to-enter celebration of diversity is organized by members of the town’s LGBT community along with their friends and supporters. We are a small team of volunteers and if you have skills and energy that you believe would help build or promote Exmouth Pride, we would love to hear from you!

Questions & Contact Information

For more information, contact the Exmouth Pride Office using our contact page.

Why Do We Have Exmouth Pride?

Exmouth Pride is a great fun day. But there is a serious message behind the music and partying. That message is that LGBT+ people are as loving, as wonderfully diverse and as much a part of our society as anybody else. But not everybody thinks so. Even here in Britain we have some people demanding that children should not be taught in school that gay people actually exist. And we live in a world where some countries would execute you – even stone you to death – simply for being gay.

Those illogical ideas and attitudes need to be challenged and changed. We are lucky in Britain that we have the support of Parliament and our legal system for improving the lives and the rights of the LGBT+ community. Back in July 2017, the government launched a survey to try to understand more fully the lives and experiences of LGBT+ people in the UK. More than 108,000 people took part – making it the largest national survey of LBGT+ people in the world to date.

The results made sobering reading.

At least two in five responders had experienced an incident such as verbal harassment or physical violence in the 12 months preceding the survey because they were LGBT. However, nine in 10 of the most serious incidents went unreported to the authorities often because respondents thought “it happens all the time”.
Some 2% of respondents had undergone “conversion” or “reparative” therapy in an attempt to “cure” them of being LGBT+ and a further 5% had been offered it.
More than two-thirds of respondents said they avoided holding hands with a same-sex partner for fear of a negative reaction from others.
LGBT respondents are less satisfied with their lives than the general UK population – rating 6.5 out of 10 on average, compared with 7.7 for the general population. Trans respondents had particularly low scores – around 5.4 out of 10.
The report also quotes the Crime Survey for England and Wales which says that gay, lesbian and bisexual people are more likely than heterosexual people to be victims of crime.
Almost a quarter of respondents had accessed mental health services in the 12 months preceding the survey.

Launching the results of the survey, MP Penny Mourdaunt, the Minister for Women and Equalities, said: “None of this is acceptable. Clearly we have more to do. “Despite the progress, we have made as a country, we should not be blind to the fact that LGBT people continue to face barriers to full participation in public life.” She also said: “The UK today is a diverse and tolerant society. We have made great strides in recent decades in our acceptance of Lesbian, gay, bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people who make a vital contribution to our culture and to our economy.”

“We want to build a country that works for everyone and that means tackling these burning issues.”

On the positive side, it seems that attitudes are changing with younger people more likely to identify as Lesbian Gay or Bisexual. In 2016 the Office for National Statistics estimated that 2% of the UK population identified that way. The proportion was higher for younger people (4.1% of 16-24 year-olds and 2.9% of 25-34 year olds) than older people (0.7% of those aged 65 and over). These figures were for sexual orientation only and not for gender identity.

And so the fight continues. Being gay in the UK was only partially decriminalized in 1968. Other battles, for an equal age of consent, for civil partnerships and then gay marriage were long and hard fought. Gradually here battles are being won. That said, we know it’s not changing for the better everywhere and that in countries such as Brunei, Syria and Russia you can lose your job, your home or even your life if you are part of the LGBT+ community. Exmouth Pride is for LGBT+ people and their friends and families to celebrate diversity together. We would be delighted if you would join us in that celebration.

The History Of Pride

The Pride movement has its roots in the civil rights battles of the late 1960s and early 1970s in America. Regular harassment of LGBT+ customers of the Stonewall Tavern in New York by police and others resulted in a riot in the early hours of June 28 1969.

The Stonewall Tavern was a bar where gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual people would meet. It was also popular with drag queens. Police raids were common and often violent – but on this particular night, the customers rose up and for the first time, fought back.

One year on, the LGBT+ community started to organise and the first march in New York marked the anniversary of that landmark fight back against oppression. Since those early days of 1970, the movement has spread around the world – although Exmouth has a long way to go to match the Sao Paulo Pride in Brazil in 2006 which attracted an international crowd of between 2.5 and 3 million people.

PRIDE

The capitalisation of PRIDE denotes the acronym People Respecting Identity, Diversity and Equality.

The Rainbow Flag – A Modern Icon:

The bright colours of the rainbow Pride flag have become an instantly identifiable international symbol. It’s in New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA’s) design collection and has been used around the world as a symbol of LGBT+ identity. Artist Gilbert Baker is credited with creating it. The Kansa born artist was asked to come up with a flag by Harvey Milk – the first major openly gay politician in America.

Gilbert says it was first used on the streets of San Francisco in 1978. He created an incredible mile long version in 1994 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Come and join the rainbow celebrations at Exmouth Pride – and show your solidarity for diversity and equal rights for all.