Kenny Frame - What pride means to me
![](https://mm.aiircdn.com/43/470704.gif)
Kenny Frame, "What Pride means to me"
Being the slightly ‘older’ one of the group, it gives me the benefit of a 20 year perspective of what Pride means to me. Its the ability to walk down the street in the middle of Newcastle, hand-in-hand with my boyfriend, without a glance of disapproval. Who would of thought 20 years ago, that I would be able to do that! I’m proud of being Gay, I’m proud of being from Newcastle, and I’m especially proud of being part of Pride, and everything it brings to a community.
I’m lucky that I live in the city centre, and virtually on the gay scene, and I’m lucky that I haven’t really experienced any homophobic abuse. Newcastle, in my experience, is very accepting of its diverse groups, and Pride, just reinforces that acceptance. I once heard a ‘hard man’ of Newcastle say, "well they may be puffs, but they’re our puffs!”
So over the last 20 years I’ve seen Newcastle’s gay scene develop from a handful of bars, to a thriving community based scene; and that's been through the recent and ongoing financial crisis which has been a challenge to us all. But hey, we’re not just Geordies, we’re LGBT Geordies; when has a crises ever stopped us from enjoying ourselves! And that’s another reason why Northern Pride is so special, its FREE! Which is what a Pride is all about, FREE to be who you are, FREE of judgement, and FREE of shame!
Back to Northern Pride
Back to Project Pride