Setting up the first Pride
1997
“I set up the first Pride not to become the Bill Gavan road show, but the first year would be me and some other people, then in 1997 we would retire and become patrons (matrons) on the gay scene, and a newly elected body would do the next year and then the matrons and patrons could retire and move upstairs, so we’d have new ideas. The first Pride had about 20,000 people. The committee consisted of three lesbians (see Inge Thornton interview) and four gay blokes (see Trevor Sword interview), all openly out. I couldn’t have pulled it off without the girls, the guys were easier because they were on the gay scene, they were getting the local businesses involved, but the lesbians – I called them the girls – they were bringing people in from the voluntary sector, and other members of the public, in other words they had more balls than me, to go out there and invite the general public.”
Contributed by: Bill Gavan, 56