Our beautiful Barry Pride, that debuted to such stunning success last September, is very much game on… but with a terrific technical twist.
Corona Virus times may have left us with the loss of our annual gay day away at the wonderful Waterfront, so we’ve hit the super highway instead.
We are the latest on a long, illustrious LGBTQ+ list to commit ourselves completely to Keeping Qymru Connected at the first-ever pan Wales Wide Virtual Pride on July 24th and 25th.
Part of what makes our Welsh Qmmunity so special is its visibility, talent, and readiness, to make sure everyone stays strong together, even in the most difficult of times.
And brave Barry, when we dig deep we have certainly got this sense of solidarity in spades, so let’s Stick Together again to show up once more for our local LGBTQ+ residents – and all those allies too.
Oh My Christ, remember how over excited I got when, after years of packing my Rainbow Flag for Prides all over the UK, I finally got to go to one in my brilliant birth place.
How, I turned up at all the happy home town happenings, like the Time and Again treat, and was so Proud of Barry, as I shouted Loud and Proud from the High Street rooftops.
So shall we stick on our snazzy Rainbow socks, whip up our whistles, glam up with glitter, and do it all over again then.
Coming? Then just click here to book your place on your sofa. And then follow the @LGBTQymru pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Insta, for all the hot off the press news as it happens.
I’m chuffed to little bits to be a Barry Pride Ambassador, and equally proud to join its founder, and our local social media specialist, Hannah Isted, as part of the LGBTQymru collective.
We will bring you, acts and artists, quizzes and queer films, debate and drag queens, Ministers and make-up tutorials plus so, so much more.
Pride Season with its events throughout the summer are usually the highlight of the queer calendar.
And with our Qmmunity feeling even more disconnected and dispersed, as we see our social events suffering those Corona Virus cancellations, now is the time to cement community cohesion.
Never has this been more important for those of us living the LGBT+ life – especially our Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic queer family fighting the Black Lives Matter battle.
We are working with Black Pride UK, and are also hosting the Wales Wide Virtual Pride Panel Discussion, ‘A better community is within REACH.’
The Panel will discuss the need to provide spaces, platforms and opportunities for our LGBTQ+ siblings of different Races, Ethnicities, And Cultural Heritages (REACH).
Other panel discussions include: ‘Can I Get An Amen’, centred around faith ‘I Am What I Am,’ looking at the lived experience of being trans in Wales, ‘A Life in Drag looking at the History of this art form.
A much needed conversation around LGBTQ+ mental health, and, ‘Surviving The Scene,’ looking at the support available for those living with HIV in Wales.
We have a packed programme, of fringe events throughout the week, and exciting entertainment over the two dayer. Just follow us to find out more.
We are also looking for more local singers and other superstars to join the Pride party too. We want you Barry performers – so please sign up here to take your place on the virtual stage.
Barry and Vale business owners can also put their money where their mouth, and join wider Wales companies, like Principality Building Society, in sponsoring the event.
Wales Wide Virtual Pride is free, and run by a not-for-profit organisation who believe in giving back to our community. If you can help with any donation, however big or small, please visit our Go Fund Me page.
We may be out of the closet, and still in the house but that doesn’t mean our my energetic activism shudders to a halt.
Or that our much-celebrated Welsh Pride Season should stop while we wait for that lonely Lockdown to lift.
So let’s fly the flag for Barry, and for Pride 2020 shall we
See you on the screen.
Speak soon.
Mrs SVJ.#
Sue Vincent-Jones, writing as Mrs SVJ, is a Barry born journalist, editor, and communications specialist. She blogs about Barry – and her life in the wider world, through the eyes of a, quirky and queer, local girl done good.
Queer News is where Sue writes about her LGBT life – the happy times, and the hot issues. This includes her volunteer work in the queer community, and her role as a founding member of LGBTQymru.
This Blog is also featured in My Corona Virus Diary, Sue’s take on this pandemic palaver – the long lingering Lockdown, our queer quarantine, the isolation nation, and how our town took to these crazy Covid 19 times.
Mrs SVJ, Barry’s Boldest Blogger, can be contacted here.