I spent £10,000 co-founding my local Pride – the turnout shocked me

It had been a non-stop day from the moment I’d arrived onsite at 7am, but there I found myself – waiting stage left to make my walk to the fabled turntables and begin my DJ set for the waiting crowd at the very first Chase Pride.

It was now 5pm and perhaps the first chance I’d had to take a deliberate breath all day.

The thought of holding a Pride festival in the West Midlands’ Cannock Chase – a former mining town – had seemed slightly crazy just a couple of years ago.

This was a very traditional community with strong conservative values, so I’d never anticipated there would be so much support for the event when I first conceived it back in 2019.

I grew up in Burntwood in Staffordshire – just a few minutes from Cannock Chase – throughout the 80s, where homophobia and transphobia were rife. I’d learned from an early age to keep any thoughts or feelings – about my gender and a general sense of not fitting in – with other boys a secret. While they would all be enjoying playing football or cricket, I’d prefer to be with the girls playing make-believe.

I’d known from the age of 11 that I was different. But without the internet, public information or role models to look to I didn’t understand why I didn’t fit in.

Then, at the age of 28, gender dysphoria hit hard and I suddenly found myself unable to continue living the lie that was my life. Consumed by depression, anxiety and unable to think or focus on anything but the way I felt about my gender, I became withdrawn from both home and work life.

I knew that things couldn’t go on as they were, but I equally couldn’t see a way forward, so I felt trapped and alone.

What I didn’t know at the time was that it would take me many more years to truly accept myself for who I am, and to be able to say with a sense of pride that I’m a transgender woman.

Being 6 foot 2 inches tall, I tended to stand out in the early years of transition. The things I’d previously taken for granted – such as going to the supermarket, pub, shops, or even accessing public transport – suddenly saw me attracting negative attention.

Stares from people I passed by were commonplace, along with laughing, jeering, verbal assault and even physical assault. On the back of those experiences, I became increasingly withdrawn from society, actively avoiding any situations that may have resulted in being subjected to hatred.

Fortunately, as my body began to react to hormone therapy, I started to fit into society’s binary view of gender once more, and negative incidents became the exception rather than the rule.

On the back of my own experiences, I felt compelled to do something to bring Cannock Chase into the 21st century. I wanted to make it easier for others to come out in future, and to leave a legacy for future generations of the LGBTQ+ community.

So I began to speak with others about the possibility of organising a Pride in the local area. I ended up hearing stories about the lack of support services available for the local community, the fear people felt when going out in the local town, of bullying that young LGBTQ+ people continue to experience at school, and that people found it difficult to be out at work.

It was saddening to hear, but at the same time, gave me more determination than ever to do something to change that narrative. On the back of those conversations, a small group of us gathered in my kitchen in 2019 to talk through what Pride might look like.

Together, we defined our aims and objectives, registered a charity, formed a committee and set to work planning to hold the first Chase Pride in the summer of 2020.

What we didn’t know at the time was that the Covid-19 pandemic would delay our plans for a further two years. With that finally behind us in late 2021, we began planning a new date in September 2022.

With sponsorship and grant funding hard to get, I ploughed £10,000 of my personal savings into the first event, hoping the British weather would be kind and the day a success.

Organising a Pride is both rewarding and terrifying in equal measure; the amount of work required to attract funding, volunteers and publicity, to book acts, stages, sound systems, security fencing, toilets, bars, food traders and everything else that goes into a festival is akin to a full-time job.

Then there are the last-minute challenges that pop up, like suppliers letting you down at the eleventh hour, and having several thousand more attendees arrive on the day than you’d anticipated.

The two weeks leading up to Pride saw me and my team working around the clock to get everything in place, then it finally arrived.

We had performances from talented local people, including high school students and dance schools. They were joined by The Voice’s Georgia Bray, X Factor’s George Windsor, The Circle’s Woody Cook, and RuPaul Drag Race UK’s Danny Beard and Cheryl Hole, among many more.

My DJ set was perhaps the most rewarding of my career to date – the love I felt from the crowd was on another level and everyone was in the spirit of the day, dancing, smiling and generally enjoying everything that Chase Pride had to offer them.

I cried tears of joy several times throughout the day, proud of what our team had achieved. Perhaps the most special moment was watching the Pride parade get underway – participants of every age, gender, sexuality and ability coming together to celebrate who they are, all watched on and supported by thousands of local residents.  

In the days that followed, the stories we heard from the local community were heartwarming. An abundance of TikToks from the event brought tears to our eyes as the community shared their stories.

There were those for whom Chase Pride was a first, those who no longer felt isolated and alone in their hometown, those who found a strong sense of belonging and those who learned what it’s like to be a member of the community.

Then there was the feedback from our exhibitors and marketplace, who had provided outreach and signposting services at the event and were overwhelmed by the take-up, and with the £14,000 that was raised for good causes.

The power of Pride generates a sense of belonging, invites you to join the festivities and enables you to learn about the community.

I often ponder where I’d be in life right now had Pride existed in Cannock Chase when I grew up. I’d perhaps have felt less isolated and alone, more confident to explore my feelings, and empowered to have some of the difficult conversations with loved ones I wish I’d had at an earlier age.

Spirited on by the success of our first event, we’re currently planning for Chase Pride 2023, which will take place 1 and 2 September. This year’s festival will be bigger and better – we’re expecting more attendees and have lined up more stalls, entertainment, and a bigger, louder, more vibrant march.

The festival feels more important than ever this year, continuing to highlight and raise awareness of issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, such as the culture war being raged against the transgender community both here in the UK and overseas, and to stand up in the face of hatred following the tragic death of Brianna Ghey earlier this year.

It’s time to stand together and shout ‘no more’ in the face of hatred and prejudice.