History in the making as Gay Pride marchers take to Huddersfield streets
‘GAY Pride’ is celebrated around the world during June every year because it coincides with the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots - the uprising against police brutality that heralded the gay rights movement in the USA.
The Stonewall charity was set up 20 years later in the UK to fight discrimination against the LGBT community.
While the centuries-long battle for equality goes on, on many fronts, Huddersfield was at the forefront of the movement for one day in the summer of 1981.
With this year’s celebrations prevented by Covid-19 restrictions, Kirklees Pride 2020 has been running online only all week.
Back in 1981, there were other reasons for a Gay Pride march in the North not to happen the open hostility of the police and the far right.
But amid the threat of violence and police intimidation, the gay community put on a show of solidarity in defiance of homophobia and helped keep the town’s popular gay bar open. In the late 1970s, Huddersfield had found itself with one of the most popular gay bars in the North.
The Gemini club on Southgate, opposite the old sports centre, was a success, attracting punters from Leeds, Manchester and even further afield.
But club owner John Addy, who owned a pink Rolls Royce, was allegedly being “constantly raided” and harrassed by West Yorkshire Police with one senior officer describing it as a “cesspit of filth”.
Former regular Stevan Alcock told the Huddersfield Examiner: “The police had a vendetta to have the place shut down and raids became ever more frequent.
“We were lined up and our names and addresses taken.”
But the bid to shut it down was defeated after a fantastic move of solidarity saw a nationally-significant event moved to West Yorkshire.
A decision was made by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) to move the annual Gay Pride march in London to Huddersfield
in a show of defiance.
The marchers faced threats of violence from the fascist National Front, but it went ahead regardless.
Peter Scott-Presland attended the march and also took pictures of the historic occasion.
Interviewed by Rachel Larman for West Yorkshire Queer Stories, he revealed how members used the poles on their banners to charge through a group of fascists and come away unscathed.
Peter, who was involved in organising the post-march entertainment, said: “They decided that they were going to take the march out to Huddersfield as an act of solidarity with John Addy and the Gemini Club.
“That in itself caused a lot of controversy. “For a lot of people in London anything that happens north of Barnet just doesn’t exist.
“[Questions were asked] why are we doing this? Why are we going in support of a commercial organisation?
“Because there was that element in the political movement which saw all kind of commercial or profit-making gay organisations as complete anathema.
“Nevertheless, we decided to go.
“There would’ve been about 2,000 people on the march from all over the place.
“I remember that we went through the shopping centre of Huddersfield, as a march, and local people were just sort of, ‘what?’
“There was a public announcement from National Front that they were going to stop this march.
“We had tremendous excitement getting from the park to the after party at the polytechnic because this is where all the National Front people came out of the woodwork.
“Groups of skinheads just sort of materialised, from round the corner.
“Because we had a banner with us, we took the banner down, and like a lance, a battering ram, and just charged into these groups of skinheads and got out the other side.
“I don’t think there were actually any casualties, it felt really good to be doing something like Pride... harnessed to a particular cause.
“Afterwards, John actually won his battle to keep his licence.”