I expect I will be vilified as a killjoy but, as a visitor to the area, I went to see my first Brighton gay pride parade - also billed as a carnival procession - and was disappointed.
From the advance publicity I had expected the parade to be like a mardi gras, with elaborately decorated floats and marching bands.
There were some elaborate costumes, so congratulations to those who bothered, and congratulations to the gay police contingent, wearing their uniforms on an extremely hot day. However, the parade itself was a let-down.
In addition, on the top of one open-top bus in the parade was a man in leather chaps, deliberately flaunting his naked rear end at the onlookers while being spanked by a similarly dressed companion in time to (appropriately) beat music.
There is a time and a place for a gay male to display his rear end - and, as a gay male, I certainly don't mind such a display in the right place - but on top of a bus, in central Brighton, in the morning - no sir.
I felt angered they were doing this in an event meant to represent the joy of being gay to the community at large. Their distasteful behaviour invites a backlash and lets down the vast majority of gays who would never behave like this in public.
-Martin Robertson, Lewes
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