Socialists campaign for Pride not profit in Birmingham

On Saturday 29 May, Socialist Party activists from across the West Midlands region campaigned at Birmingham’s annual LGBT Pride event. Thousands of LGBT people and allies from across the Midlands attended the Pride weekend.

We argued for unity between all workers in response to the growing threat of public service cuts, and the threat of the far right. We put across the message that homophobia and transphobia are tools used to divide the working class.

We also argued for a socialist alternative to the growing commercialisation of LGBT politics. The enthusiastic response to our material demonstrated that there is a layer of working class LGBT people frustrated with the politics of organisations like Stonewall. Such organisations seem more concerned with promoting ‘LGBT friendly’ big businesses and attempting to buy gay liberation via the ‘pink pound’, and do not put forward radical change and genuine equality.

Socialist Party members handed out around 1,000 leaflets putting forward a socialist path to LGBT liberation and workers’ unity, sold 40 copies of The Socialist and raised £80 fighting fund. Four people were interested in joining the Socialist Party.

Jennifer O’Sullivan, Birmingham Socialist Party