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
I had secretly hoped that there may have been a few other leathermen on parade but as it happens, I was the only guy in gear. Feeling corageous, I went by bus in gear to the train station and then on a cross country train that took me from Reading to Oxford. Usually I disguise myself with a hoodie and boots that go under my leather jeans – that way people assume I’m a biker! This time my leather shirt was exposed and my leather jeans were proudly tucked into my tall boots!
through the city centre was welcomed by the Saturday shoppers and I noted at one point that we disrupted a graduation ceremony!
When I entered the Mr Leather UK compeition, I made a statement that Leather exisits beyond London, Bristol and Manchester and so I intend to continue that pledge and gear up at as many of the other pride festivals as I can. After all, we all need to be the ‘beacon’ that illuminates the leather community to the other guys who, like me, live out in the sticks and probably never leave their homes in gear. By putting leather on parade, we can show them that there is nothing seedy about being a queer in gear and hopefully encourage them out of the leather closet!
I thnk it’s fair to say that I had a few beers or two at Oxford Pride – thankfully we got the train back!
The day ended with a pint or two at the local bar in Reading where I went in a leather kilt. Not sure how it went down but lets face it, I was two sheets to the wind to care!