Pride in London 2019 (Star Log Vol 2 entry 4)

Having woke up from a dream of Ru Paul singing “Chic, Freak, Fantastic, Slay”, I was ready to take on Pride! This year marks the 50th anniversary since the Stonewall Riots and I’m pretty sure everyone will be there to commemorate it. It will be my eighth-year volunteering for London Pride so I was very well versed in throwing glitter dust into the crowd.

I woke up from a message from my mother:

Every thing mummy so so sorry . I’M so love you and your sister. 

This was important to me especially as she never really apologised to me for the things she did to me when I came out. She would tell me to come out when she has passed away, take me to China to marry a Chinese woman or make a snide comment that being gay is a disease that being it automatically gives me HIV. For that reason, I just stopped talking to her as I had to move on and live my life. It took some time for me to find the strength to get back to her and even when I did go back, she still made the same comments.

Life long memories made with pumping up the crowd with Spice Up Your Life blasting from the speakers. It was so much, I mean SO MUCH fun dancing and throwing the moves to the crowd. 

Another moment to cherish was manning the very glamorous portaloos that a girl started to dance to a song on the stage that it got me going with her groove too. She ended up saying that she loved me and that I was too kind. I was so touched at that moment like that, it's what Pride represents to me, being able to own yourself and share experiences (that feeling of the community).

Once the party was over in Trafalgar Square, I sashay and shante myself to Soho to grab dinner. One the way there I was stopped by a gentleman who was with his friends. He asked me, “is that Armani?” as he pointed to the t-shirt I was wearing. I sniffed the air quickly to see what he was high on and found that he must be high on the Pride atmosphere, so I replied, “oh no (giggle), this is Primark.” He laughed and his girlfriends smiled. He asked what I was doing to which I replied that I was on my way to dinner and we then all bid each a happy Pride with me being on my merry way. That was amusing.