This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine.
Fifty-three years ago this month, the New York police raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, an iconic venue for LGBTQ+ people. Violent raids happened across the city every night, but what was different on this night was that the people inside and out said no. LGBTQ+ people from all across New York demonstrated against police brutality and state oppression.
The Stonewall Uprising spread across America and 50 years ago this month inspired a few hundred LGBTQ+ people in London to march from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park. They were marching for liberation. Less to change the law, and more to change themselves, they were marching against shame. And so the UK’s first ever Pride march was born. Over the decades, it’s grown to a million and a half thronging the streets of London to celebrate LGBTQ+ equality.
Today there’s a lot of debate about how relevant Pride is. Some say it has become too commercial. Some say it’s too much of a party and needs to return to its radical roots. Some say the battle has been won.
We’ve made a film about this story with the BBC and Channel 4. It’s the story of 50 years of Pride, of protest, of performance. And, of course, 50 years of fabulousness. And what an unbelievable story. Police brutality in the 70s, Aids in the 80s, Section 28, the fight for an equal age of consent, same-sex marriage, black liberation and trans rights.
Director Peter Sweasey and his team interview the campaigners, actors, activists, rock stars and ordinary folk who found a community and a voice at Pride. From Tom Robinson’s anthemic call to arms Glad to Be Gay (banned by the BBC in 1978) to the 1988 invasion of the BBC newsroom by lesbians protesting against Section 28, Britain’s changing prejudices and perceptions have been reflected over half a century on its TV screens.
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As the story of Pride can’t be told without expressing the joint muscle of protest and performance at the heart of the movement since that night outside Stonewall, we hosted a concert of iconic performers of Pride’s past, present and future at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, one of the oldest surviving LGBTQ+ venues.
Pioneers like the world’s first openly gay rock star Tom Robinson, poet Kae Tempest and pop star Olly Alexander came together in front of a crowd of LGBTQ+ icons (including some from that march in 1972) to take us on a musical journey, a love letter to Pride. The result is part history, part celebration, part looking forward to what the next 50 years will be.
What we’ve learnt making this film is that those debates have been going on since the very start. And the many triumphs along the way have been achieved in spite of, or maybe because of, that passionate diversity of opinion. And we’re seeing around the world that hard-won rights are not set in stone. A wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is sweeping the US. In places like Hungary, Poland and Russia, the community is under threat. In a dozen countries, homosexuality is still punishable by death.
If we’ve learnt anything, it’s that Pride continues to mean something. It means resistance, struggle, defiance and hope. It means being proud of you are and to love who you want. So while our film celebrates 50 fabulous years of Pride, it’s also a reminder not to hang up our high heels yet.
Freedom: 50 Years of Pride airs this Saturday 2nd July on Channel 4 at 8pm. Looking for more to watch? Check out our TV Guide.
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