Frankie Coultas, Southampton Socialist Party

The Socialist Party participated in Southampton Pride, taking part in the march, with our placards calling for a new workers’ party to fight for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

We had good conversations with attendees, particularly one young person active in Trans Pride Winchester, which occurred the week before. Unlike Southampton Pride, Trans Pride Winchester had been explicitly political, with speeches from attendees.

This speaks to the particularly precarious position trans people are in right now. We can’t afford not to engage with the political arguments used to victimise us. They are being brought down on us every day, most recently following the EHRC guidance for service providers.

Aside from the Socialist Party, the only other political presence at Southampton Pride was the National Education Union (NEU) community stage. Southampton Pride banned political parties from the main area for the second year running, in line with UK Pride.

However, the ‘headline partners’ of Southampton Pride were P&O Cruises and Cunard. Both companies have a history of exploitative working practices.

As a socialist, I found this very difficult to parse. In contrast, the chants from the march included ‘Pride is a protest’.

Manchester – workers before corporations

Robbie Davidson, Manchester Socialist Party

Young Socialist Party members attended a massive Manchester Pride march. While water companies, supermarkets, and landlord conglomerates paraded floats through the city declaring big business’s belief in a vague idea of equality, working-class young people were looking for more radical answers.

Last year’s anti-trans Supreme Court ruling had bred a palpable fear on the ground that none of the gains made for LGBTQ+ people are safe under this rotten, profit-driven system. The empty promises from new Labour prime minister Andy Burnham resonated with very few.

Our demand that Manchester Pride should be led by trade unions, youth activists, and community campaigners was popular. One young person said she was “disgusted” that corporations were front and centre, whilst the banners of the workers’ movement had been crammed in at the back.

We’re discussing and meeting with people who signed up at Pride to hear more about the Socialist Party, and the need for a new party of the working class and all groups on the sharp end of oppression.