'˜Leeds Pride is the most epic party I've ever been to'

CELEBRATION: Last year's Leeds Pride parade on The Headrow.

On the afternoon of Sunday August 5, my husband, toddler and I will be joining thousands of people across Leeds to celebrate Leeds Pride as the parade snakes its way through our beautiful city and I'm really looking forward to it.

Last year was the first Pride event I’d ever been to, I think because I wasn’t really sure if I was allowed to go. I wasn’t sure if Pride was exclusive for people who associated as LGBT*. I wanted to stand and be counted as someone who believed we are all equal but I wasn’t sure if my presence as a heterosexual woman would be taken as offensive and I was also terrified of doing or saying the wrong thing.

For my first Leeds Pride I was in at the deep end as I was asked to go on stage at Millennium Square and introduce some of the acts. There were thousands of people and it was a bit terrifying. It was something I’d done many times before but this time it felt different because of the audience and because I was really worried about people finding out about how ignorant I really was. To be brutally honest, I was worried about what words to use.

I have friends who associate as lesbian, gay and bisexual but as far as I was aware, I’ve never had any friends who associate as trans* and I was worried about accidentally offending someone. I knew I was completely supportive but I was born female and I’ve always felt female and have never experienced feeling anything other than comfortable in my own skin. I suppose I was a bit scared. I’d usually come on stage and say something like “Ladies and Gentlemen” but in 2018 was that the wrong thing to say? Would that be offensive, if so what should I say instead?

I was concerned that with the best will in the world, with genuine feelings of equality I wouldn’t be able to pick the right words to express myself in the way in which I wanted my expressions to be received. I felt uncomfortable and awkward and at the same time I knew that wasn’t a good enough excuse and that it was my responsibility to educate myself.

It wasn’t even difficult – just a quick Google cleared up a lot of misconceptions and actually admitting I didn’t have the answers and being willing to learn felt better. It also made me realise that for as much as I was completely behind the equality, I had fallen into a trap where I’d forgotten the simple fact that people are people and Leeds Pride reminded me of that.