Ballymena to host first ever Pride Parade weeks after headline grabbing riots

The Journal

18 hours ago

THE ORGANISER OF the first ever Pride Parade in Ballymena has said he never considered cancelling the event, despite wide-scale rioting in the Co Antrim town earlier this month.
Ballymena made headlines around the world after three nights of rioting earlier this month in which over 40 PSNI officers were injured.
PSNI said the rioting erupted after a
vigil to protest the alleged sexual assault in the town was 'hijacked' by 'racist thuggery'.
Curtis Lee, the organiser of the first ever Pride Parade in Ballymena which will take place tomorrow, told
The Journal:
'The committee's opinion was that, no matter what, we're going ahead with this because to cancel would be to give into fear.
'The theme of our event is 'love over fear' so to give into fear would have went against everything that Pride stands for.'
He added that it 'didn't make any sense to us to cancel it because of the actions of a few individuals' and said that 'a lot of the people that caused damage were actually bused in to Ballymena'.
During a visit to Ballymena by
The Journal
in the aftermath of the rioting, a member of a
'local regeneration group' remarked that there were 'definitely elements of the protest on Monday night that weren't local'.
Lee told
The Journal
that while 'there is definitely racism in the town, to tarnish the whole town with the same brush is unfair'.
He added that 'Pride will exist here to present an alternative vision of Ballymena'.
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There will, however, be protests tomorrow from four evangelical Christian groups and Lee said this was something they expected would happen.
'Ballymena is the birthplace of Ian Paisley so it was always to be expected that there was going to be counter protests.'
One of the four groups protesting is United Christian Witness, and the other three are local church groups.
Lee said he is 'disappointed but not surprised' by the planned protests.
Meanwhile, in one social media thread on the upcoming parade, someone commented that as a gay person, they 'couldn't wait to leave Ballymena'.
'I never thought I'd see the day there would be a Pride event there,' they added.
Lee said that messages like these are 'the entire reason of why we're doing this'.
'Just that one day of visibility in the town can be life saving,' said Lee.
'I've had messages from parents of young people fearful for child's safety and who struggle with their mental health and they're excluded.
'To give a platform to make them feel welcome and to be seen is so important.'
Lee added that he has spoke to many older people who said they never could have imagined that a Pride Parade could take place in Ballymena.
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'As much as Pride has taken off around the world,' said Lee, 'I think there was always the expectation of, 'oh, that'll never happen here'.'
But while there have been many messages of support, Lee acknowledged that some of the responses have taken him by 'surprise' and have been 'incredibly toxic'.
Lee said he has been informed of an individual who is 'putting leaflets into local shops and businesses, asking them not to support Pride'.
'He's telling them that if they support pride, he will encourage local Christians to boycott their business.'
Lee said many local business owners 'have been fearful of publicly supporting what we're doing'.
'We would never judge any business, because there is some uncertainty of what the response will be and things could escalate, especially after the riots,' said Lee.
'I would never expect any business to put themselves at risk.
'As much as I would like every business in the town to have rainbow flags, I can't expect everyone to scream from the rooftops about it.
'I hope we can get to that place down the line, but with this being our first parade, we expected this.'
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