So today I’ve attended my first regional pride festival here in the UK – Hampshire Pride which took place in Winchester. When people think of Pride, they tend to think of the larger festivals such as London, Brighton and Manchester and yet there are 82 pride festivals taking place in the UK during 2017. Obviously I can’t attend all of them but I will be attending as many as I can.
When I spoke at the Mr Leather UK competition, I pledged to take leather to the smaller Pride festivals to be a visible leather presence so that people don’t have to hide in their leather closets. I believe that visibility is the biggest weapon in fighting discrimination.
I was lucky to be accompanied by Mr Puppy UK, Piglet, and ‘Ripper Moff’.
This year as well as attending many of the prides I want to see if I can host a few of them to bring the leather community to a wider audience. I have been asked to host two at two of the events so far and I think I may end up being the first Leather Man to do so in the UK. I’ll give further details when everything has been confirmed officially. 
The Pride Events that I will be attending this year are:
- 13th May: Exeter Pride
- 3rd June: Oxford Pride
- 10th June: Gloucestershire Pride
- 11th June: Coventry Pride
- 8th July: Pride in London
- 22nd July: Pride in Hull
- 29th July: Swindon Pride
- 5th August: Brighton Pride
- 12th August: Margate Pride
- 19th August: Folkestone Pride
- 26th August: Manchester Pride
- 2nd September: Reading Pride
