Flying the flag!

Well it’s certainly been a summer for flags, has it not?

Turning swiftly side from the recent jingoistic Union Jack display that accompanied the birth of an heir to the heir to the heir to the throne, and I pause here for a yawn, we saw the controversy as Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond unfurled the Saltire from his wife’s handbag and, some would say unceremoniously, brandished it to celebrate Andy Murray winning at Wimbledon.

 

 

“Gaun yersel Eck!” I would say, but others begged to differ and the Unionist press attempted to have a field day, with all sorts of accusations of improper conduct being hurled in the poor man’s direction. He only did what any one of us would have done in the situation, and the fact that David Cameron was right in front of him was surely mere coincidence!

But the flag controversy has now moved on to closer at home: Glasgow Pride to be precise.

Apparently last year Glasgow City Council claimed that they couldn’t raise the Rainbow flag over the City Chambers due to the presence of nesting seagulls. Sounds a bit fishy to me but that’s their story and they are sticking to it. The year before the flag certainly flew loud and proud as they say in the LGBT community and I do remember my own personal pride when we entered George Square and there it was. And much commented on it was too!

However this week saw the appearance of a statement from the organisers of Glasgow Pride in which they asked Glasgow City Council NOT to display the Rainbow flag, due to their accusation of lack of financial support for the event itself. Now I am not party to the inner goings on of the organisation of such events. I support them through donation when the buckets come round, but as to the machinations of how the money is raised and indeed spent, well I leave that to those involved.

 

And not being involved, directly at least, is my personal choice. I have quite enough on my hands with a busy job and active social life, and volunteering has never been my “thing”. I have lots of admiration for those who do however, and one of my friends, who is involved with such events, has certainly opened my eyes to the amount of hard work that is needed behind the scenes to make such events a success, though I have to say we still have a long way to go to even make the same league as the likes of Manchester, Brighton or London.

 

A lot of that has to do with population of course, and although Glasgow acts as a Mecca to the Scottish LGBT community, many of whom, like myself, have moved into the big city from outside, the numbers don’t even remotely compare to those down south.

But back to the flag itself – and what does it represent? As ever Wikipedia comes to the rescue and if you don’t know then this article on the rainbow flag will help you out! Worth a read!

Who does it belong to? Glasgow Pride? Glasgow City Council? Me? You?

The truth is of course that it belongs to none of the above and all at the same time. On the day of the Pride march in Glasgow you will see it everywhere – from face paint (which reminds me to get some ordered in after the spectacular success of last year’s venture with this!) to costumes, on flagpoles above the LGBT pubs and clubs, but NOT if the organisers of Glasgow Pride were to have their way, adorning the flagpole of the City Chambers.

 

It is a symbol which binds us all together and reminds us of where we have come from to get to the point where marching through the centre of Glasgow is actually safe! As ever Wikipedia to the rescue and a quick read of story about the Stonewall riots will perhaps give you an idea of exactly why we are marching at all.

Anyway as ever I digress and so back to the controversy around the flag in Glasgow, which stepped up a gear when a larger than life celebrity from the gay scene got involved and had the temerity to say that we should all lobby Glasgow City Council to fly the flag after all!

For those of you on Facebook here’s where to read what was said: Letter to the Council

After the (sad but expected) personal insults and name calling (all going in one direction I have to say) had died down it became apparent that this point of view, that it was OUR flag and had a symbolic value which over-shone any monetary one, was really quite popular and had great merit.

 

So for once I put pen to paper (well ok I typed it on a pc) and wrote an almost identical letter myself. I’m not often moved to such acts of rabid community action but on this occasion I did so, adding a short sentence expressing my concern about the accusations of the financial playing field not being level, and asked for comments about this aspect.

No sooner was the ink from my printer dry, and the letter in the post, though bearing in mind the seagull controversy I didn’t use any pigeons, than the proverbial (bird) shit hit the fan – and the council pointed out that Glasgow Pride would in fact be receiving a large discount for various parts of the event, including such as the use of Glasgow Green. In a statement they added, “The council will be flying the Pride flag in support of Glasgow’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, and the Pride movement as a whole.”

 

And with that statement I have to agree – the flag belongs to no-one but has symbolic value to us all!

More questions have perhaps been asked than answered during this whole sorry episode, and personally I do feel that the attempt at gesture politics did the organisers of Glasgow Pride no favours at all. There is more than one way to skin a cat as they say, though perhaps with those pesky seagulls in mind the alternative saying – there is more than one way to fry a fish – might have been more appropriate! All very fishy to me anyway!

 

So there you have it – it’s now time though to get this controversy behind us and as the slogan says: “Let’s get back together oot on the Green!”