Gays Not Allowed
by Collin Wynter
During the Manchester Pride Protest on August 28, 2021, a member of LGB Alliance, a gay and lesbian charity, was verbally harassed, had his hat stolen and was escorted by police out of the vicinity.
Alex Bramham, a gay man who was wearing a hat and shirt with the LGB Alliance logo on it, joined the Manchester Pride Protest to protest the alleged mismanagement of Manchester Pride funds.
Manchester Pride has been under scrutiny for its over spending on events and providing the CEO with a 20K pay raise, while reducing the amount distributed to charities.
During the march, Bramham was involved in discussions about LGB Alliance. Some people feel it is a trans hate group because it excludes the T in its label.
In two separate interviews, Spiked and GB News, and on his twitter feed, Bramham explicitly states that the LGB Alliance is not an anti-trans organization.
In Spiked, he defends and explains the purpose of the organization:
“There’s no evidence we’re a hate group. I hold no hate towards trans persons, or against anyone with a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. You can look it up on the LGB Alliance’s website. We stand for preserving the Equality Act, which includes protecting persons who have had gender reassignment. A big motivation for me wearing the t-shirt and the hat was to demonstrate that the LGB Alliance is vocal on LGB matters, that we don’t exist purely to comment on trans issues.”
LGB Alliance states that their charity’s vision is for:
“Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals living free from discrimination or disadvantage based on their sexual orientation.”
Tensions did escalate near the end of the event. As Bramham recalls, he “was approached by a young man who was extremely threatening, loud, invading my personal space, rude and shouting abuse.”
During the interview with GB News, the video fo incident was shown.
The sound is off in the video, so you do not hear that the crowd of people chant “trans lives matter” while Bramham is followed by several individuals. One of the persons, in the orange head piece, has been identified as GuzziHero. Their twitter bio states they are “nonbinary, demigirl flux, apl aroace.”
Bramham is also clear that he was not removed from the protest. He remained calm and requested police assistance. They were amiable and did not appear to take a side.
However, one of the protesters, April Preston, had a different perspective:
“Five mins in got a TERF removed- happy with that #mcrpride,” she tweeted.
TERF is an acronym for trans exclusionary radical feminists. It is used as a slur against people who are critical of gender identity and queer theory. It is used against females and males.
Preston is listed as being on the Libdem Federal Board and apart of Radical Association, which is an “[a]ssociation of members fighting for the Liberal Democrats to offer a radical & distinctively liberal vision for our country”.
Her account is set to private, so it could not be confirmed if the tweet was deleted.
Other protestors applauded the removal of Bramham from the event.
Scottish actor/director/musician, David Paisley, believes that its
“probably worthwhile having a cohesive joint statement from LGBT+ orgs & Pride groups across the UK, making clear that anti-LGBT+ and anti-trans groups like LGB Alliance, their supporters and symbols”.
Paisley has also been promoting the idea that the LGB Alliance is a hate group. He has created a petition on change.org to “ask that the UK media stops providing an uncritical platform for the contentious organisation LGB Alliance.” [emphasis his]
Left wing commentator and writer for the Guardian, Owen Jones, re-tweeted a video of the incident with the pronouncement that
“Media outlets note: the ‘LGB Alliance’ does not represent lesbian, gay or bisexual people in any shape or form.”
Not all reposes were negative.
LGB Alliance released a statement on social media which included the following:
“LGB Alliance defends the rights of lesbians, gays and bisexuals whose rights in law are based on sexual orientation not gender identity.”
They believe it was “ludicrous” that a gay man would be heckled out of a Pride protest, considering the movement was founded to defend the rights of homosexuals. This demonstrates that the Pride movement has become dominated by “gender identity extremism.” And they “strongly reject this mindset.”
Lesbian and Gay News legal commentator, Dennis Noel Kavanagh, expressed disdain for the actions at the protest. He also applied the scenario to the state of gay rights today.
In one tweet encapsulating his thinking, Kavanagh states:
“This is what bravery and courage looks like [in regards to Bramham’s decorum during the incident]. We’re gay men. We’ve been through being despised, outcast, homelessness, drink, drugs and the great plague. We’re not having straight “queers” intimidate us. Welcome to gay rights 2.0. We’ve come prepared with life experience.”
Transsexual Debbie Hayton also added support by expressing that she is “appalled.”
This isn’t the first time
In 2019, For Women Scotland (FWS) marched in Edinburgh pride carrying a sign that stated “lesbian visibility.” In response to this, they received hateful “F*ck TERFs” being yelled at them.
At Lancaster Pride, also in 2019, lesbians protesting aspects of the trans movement, such as the ‘cotton ceiling’, were blocked and drowned out by trans rights activists.
Most notably, perhaps, was Get the L Out, who demanded to march at the front of London Pride in 2018. They demanded visibility because they felt the community is supporting the rights of males to identify as lesbians over the rights of lesbians themselves. It is so serious, that they claim this is “in fact enforcing heterosexuality on lesbians.” And that:
“This is a misogynistic and anti-lesbian manifestation of the rape culture we live in.”
Pride London disagreed. In their statement said:
“The protest group showed a level of bigotry, ignorance and hate that is unacceptable. We reject what this group stands for. They do not share our values, which are about inclusion and respect and support for the most marginalized parts of our community.”
The web site housing the statement has the trans flag emblazoned across the top of the page.