It was a grand weekend at Oban Pride (1st – 3rd September), starting with an unofficial ‘trans takeover’ in a local pub, where G and I handed out about 100 trans liberation stickers on the dance floor.  It was entirely unintentional, a chance compliment by a member of staff about G’s T-shirt following a glass of wine did the trick, things went on from there!

The next day about 200 people took part in the Oban Pride march, one of them a little worse for wear but still able to carry a flag.  The march was lively, colourful, and extremely well received by locals and tourists. The sun was shining brightly, and we had a wonderful time.

After that, we helped out at the Unite LGBT+ Committee stall. (Unite had given money to support Oban Pride), and we had some excellent conversations with local people, including a teacher who was very interested in RTiE.

On Saturday evening, there was a Pride karaoke night, at which I managed not to murder ‘A little Respect’ by Erasure and G avoided too much wine.

The next day we had a lovely chat with the Secretary of Oban Pride, and also the father and son who were among the organisers of the first ever Oban Pride in 2019.  They told us the history of their fun, inclusive, lovely, Pride.  We talked with them about the RTiE ‘Everyone is welcome here’ initiative, the idea of a year round Pride, and how we hope to organise events from the contacts we are making.

Last of all a Pride Brunch to round off a weekend Oban should indeed be proud of.  We went off and picked brambles..

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