The leaflet that Socialist Party members will be distributing at Bristol Pride 2023 is below. There is also an open letter we have written to the organisers in response to their decision to ban political parties from the parade.
Bristol Socialist Party Public Meeting
How can LGBTQ+ liberation be won?
7.30pm Tuesday 11th July
Quaker House, 300 Gloucester Road, BS7 8PD
Contact Tom on 07986 951527
The Socialist Party have written the following open letter to the organisers of Bristol Pride to challenge their decision not to allow any political parties to join the Pride march as organisations.
The Socialist Party defends our right to participate in Pride.
We have a record of fighting for LGBTQ+ rights. We fight for the right to self-identify of trans and non-binary people – but also the funding of the public services and resources needed to live all our lives fully. We also have a record of challenging those who attack trans rights under the false premise of defending women’s rights, exposing their divisive ideas as nothing but a dead end to those who genuinely want to improve women’s services.
Our Pride leaflet slogan is ‘Build a mass movement for LGBTQ+ liberation! Tories Out! Fight for socialism.’ We raise political ideas on Prides across the country that can be discussed and debated in the building of the movement for LGBTQ+ rights.
The fight for LGBTQ+ rights is political. The film Pride portrays how our movement combines solidarity, struggle and politics. LGBTQ+ activists and striking miners found common cause in the fight against Thatcher’s attacks. The miners’ union was able to influence Labour policy and put gay rights on the agenda. Today there is no chance of Starmer’s Labour Party playing that role for us. He doesn’t support the strikes and can’t be trusted on LGBTQ+ rights. But our movement still needs a political fight. We need a new workers’ party. To be effective it must have LGBTQ+ liberation and socialism on its banner.
Pro-capitalist parties have always deployed divisive politics. In a desperate attempt to maintain some kind of a base of support, the Tories have tried to whip up discrimination, and divide and rule, as a means to distract from their utter ineptitude. We face a cost-of-living crisis and a Tory government that has no answers to the problems faced by the 99%. They can only be relied on to attack our rights.
They want to make the working class and young people pay for the crisis of their capitalist system. They pose a threat to the rights of trans people and all LGBTQ+ people, as well as to the public services and living standards that everyone needs.
Their lies need to be answered – but Starmer doesn’t do that. Instead they need to be answered with socialist politics in the interests of all of us. Even if they are not present on Pride, ideas to answer them are necessary because they have access to the mass media to spread their hate and division.
The Socialist Party fights for the unity of the working class against discrimination of all kinds. We fight to unite workers and young people in campaigns to fight for housing, jobs and the NHS which are threatened by the pro-big business parties. We stand for a socialist society, based on collective ownership and not on profit for a tiny minority. We believe that this is the only way in which the oppression and exploitation of LGBTQ+ people can be ended for good.
Bristol Pride says that Pride is a protest, we agree. Our leaflet says: “We need pride events that fight back, organised democratically by campaigners and trade unions, not rainbow-washing corporations.”
We would also question what the democratic process of Bristol Pride is by which this decision has been made? The Socialist Party has consistently participated in Pride marches and our presence has always been welcomed by others there. The socialist movement have been more consistent fighters for the rights of LGBTQ+ people than the businesses which have become the most prominent organisations at the event.
The best way to take up the divisive ideas of the Tories and Labour – is to do just that – take them up! Why not host a public debate on how the fight for LGBTQ+ rights can be won?
We will be at Pride spreading the message of socialism and solidarity this Saturday, as we do every day - on the streets, in the workplaces, in the trade unions, in the communities and on campus.
