Sorry, about the dramatic headline, but… I went to my local Pride event yesterday. It was a great day, but I felt rather jaded about aspects of the event itself, hence I'm writing this.

"Good on the whole, but could do better," as teachers like to write in school reports.

So… first, getting into the festival area after the march took ages, with a bag check and only a handful of personnel at the gate to deal with hundreds of people. Unless you were cheeky and skipped the queue, it took a long time to get in.

Next, Reading Pride has been going for over 20 years, as one of the performers said. Back in the day. it was more of a protest, but this year, like last year, was very corporate, with lots of companies' employees in the march, with logos on their banners, and lots of other paid-for stalls. There's nothing wrong with that, given the numbers attending, you've got to pay for essentials somehow. However, this level of corporateness is a long way from the protest marches Prides started as. And given the difficult environment for trans people. going to one of these things you feel the protest level should be upped.

Speaking of protests, Reading Pride has been quite political in previous years, with the previous lady Mayor and queer Muslim and Hindu speakers all making speeches about inclusion from the stage, but there was none of that this time, which I was disappointed about. Especially so, given the continuing negativity, or failing that, silence, about trans and nonbinary people in the mainstream media.

Arguably bigger issues than UK trans rights - depending on your point of view - also threaten to impact Reading and other Pride events, if it turns out that it's not acceptable for major companies to sponsor them because of their ethical positions. This time round, some of the local queer community had organised an open letter to Reading Pride, urging them to take action over one of the Reading Pride sponsors being Pepsico's Doritos snacks. Pepsico has local offices in Reading and has been an event sponsor in previous years, giving out their products and other stuff, but that's now in question, as Pepsico invests in Israel and the genocide of Palestinians. On the day, the Doritos stall was there, and I saw no sign of a protest about it, but who knows what might happen next year? And what will hardening attitudes towards "undesirable" sponsors mean for sponsorship of other local Prides?

On the plus side, we saw lots of people we hadn't seen for ages, and had some great chats, and hung out with our friends afterwards, which was wonderful. Pride events are a moneyspinner for local businesses who cash in, and as usual, there were lines of people trying to get into the Blagrave, Reading's one gay pub, but we went to the Oakford Social Club, a queer-friendly bar nearby, which had music and food, and then the Castle Tap,  the trans-friendly pub near where I live. So, a great day.

D xxx