r/Glasgow Tools

In the early days, prides were something of a protest. Then they became more of a celebration. Over the past decade, they've become a lot more commercial.

Over the past decade, Glasgow Pride has moved from a free thing in the street or in Glasgow Green that anybody can rock up to, to a closed-off fenced-in event that you have to buy a ticket for. Manchester is even worse - they close off the entire Gay Village and you can't even walk down a public street and drink in an ordinary bar without buying a £32 ticket.

This has also attracted big corporate sponsors and there has been an element of "you can't say or do anything that might annoy the sponsors". Drag queens making rude jokes? Not allowed. Big Leather Daddies walking down the street in their leather trousers and jackets? Nah, looks too dirty. Not allowed.

On top of this, Glasgow Pride had a disaster of an event a few years ago. Put on a big concert at Kelvingrove Park. People who had already bought tickets were queueing outside for hours, unable to get in, because they sold a lot more tickets than they had capacity.

This is why a lot of alternative, grassroots prides have been springing up everywhere. Glasgow Free Pride started because people were pissed off with it becoming a closed-off ticketed event. Mardi Gla started because of the shitshow of a Steps concert that people couldn't get into, and allegations of corruption. You know what though? The more the merrier.