South Tyneside LGBTQ+ groups prepare for weekend of events after volunteers heckled
Key names in the LGBTQ+ community in South Tyneside have said they will not allow two incidents over the weekend to ruin Hebburn’s Pride event this weekend.
Pride event organisers in South Tyneside have said a series of incidents over the weekend in Hebburn will not dampen their spirits ahead of the town’s pride festivities.
Overnight on Saturday, June 6 the volunteer group who run Hebburn’s pride event said a banner they had displayed on Station Road was allegedly pulled down.
The same group reported they were met with verbal “abuse” from passers by when they were repairing the banner.
In a statement posted to social media the group Pride In Hebburn said: “Yesterday our volunteers put up banners to promote Pride in Hebburn. Less than 24 hours later, some had been torn down, damaged and left hanging from the railings.
“Even more disappointing, while volunteers were trying to repair the damage, they received abuse from people passing by.
“This is exactly why Pride still matters. Pride is not about division. It is not about politics. It is not about excluding anyone. It is about creating a community where people feel accepted, respected and free to be themselves.”
The banner was used to promote the town’s upcoming Pride weekend, which will take place on Saturday, June 13 at Fountain Square.
Peter Durrant, head of Out North East, who has organised a series of Pride events across the region, including South Tyneside, added: “The whole aim is to bring the community together and drive some footfall into the shopping centre, but also to turn around that image that the town centre wasn’t a safe space, to now show it is.”
Durrant and his team support the first Pride Marches in the borough, which were successful following work between Out North East and 4Hebburn, the volunteer group who organise Pride in the town.
“For this team of brilliant volunteers to say we’re doing it again, to have that ripped down and to receive homophobic abuse is heartbreaking” he adds.
“This is about Pride in Hebburn and pride in the community.
“It’s a setback, but we still aim for Saturday. Hopefully that’ll send a message that it was an isolated minority group.
“It doesn’t set us back, we’ll come back bigger and better.”