Gareth Bromhall, Swansea and West Wales Socialist Party
Swansea Pride is usually one of the earliest Pride events of the season. It took place this year on 17 May, weeks after the Supreme Court ruling being used to attack trans rights.
Socialist Party members involved in Swansea Trades Council led a trade union bloc, while groups of queer, trans and pro-Palestinian activists led chants such as “Stonewall was a riot, we will not be quiet”. Both were in sharp contrast to the corporate groups such as travel companies, banks and supermarkets which also took part – seeking to advance their profits and offering nothing to the fight against bigotry and discrimination.
Socialist Party members distributed a new leaflet taking up key issues effecting LGBTQ+ people, which was well received on our campaign stalls at either end of the march. Unfortunately, while Swansea Pride was unaffected, the organisers of the four-largest Pride events in England as well as Pride Cymru in Cardiff have announced bans on political parties taking part.
Organisers said the ban was “a direct call for accountability and a refusal to platform those who have not protected our rights”. But socialists do not see bans as an effective means to answer the attacks on our trans siblings. These attacks show that our rights are not safe within a capitalist system where the establishment elite tries to scapegoat minorities in an attempt to maintain its increasingly unpopular rule.
We attended this Pride determined to get our message across – Pride is political!
Speaking to people about the proposed ban prompted some good discussion, with many people angered, confused and frustrated – it’s clear the decision is far from universally accepted.
The Socialist Party seeks to build unity of the working class, the only force capable of transforming society, around defence of all our rights and the fight for socialism.
The most effective way of taking on the Tories and Labour on their record and their actions in government is to do just that – take them on in debate, and through protest!
Rather than a ban, we could be discussing how to build a new workers’ political alternative to their bigotry.
