People’s Republic can shine with Cork Pride

 Driving through Cork city on my way to a yoga studio, there are big colourful signs everywhere. Cork Pride 2017. Wow.

Cork has yoga AND gay pride. Which is a bit like past American tourists marvelling that we had electricity AND running water, but when I left Cork in 1987, we mostly still had provincialism AND homophobia. Wow, I think to myself, marvelling at generational evolution. Thirty years ago, there was Loafers, that lovely friendly pioneering pub. Today, the theme of Cork Pride is ‘shine’. I feel massively proud, and I’m not even queer.

I realise Cork Pride has been happening for the past 12 years and I’m a bit behind the times, but my excuse is I live elsewhere — Brighton, the gay capital of the UK, with the loudest proudest Pride this side of San Francisco. On July 22, Brighton had its fifth TransPride, smaller and more grassroots than the commercial behemoth that the bigger Pride event has become. There were a few thousand trans people and their friends and supporters celebrating in the sunshine — it was all about visibility and inclusivity. It was all about shining.