g7uk » gayfest

A public discussion with Julia Grant (video)

GS — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:30:47 +0000

Following my recent interview with Julia Grant, she suggested that perhaps I could organise a public discussion about the future of the August Bank Holiday event (which has been known as Manchester Pride since 2004) and the gay village.

This was arranged with the help of other members of the Facebook group Facts About Manchester Pride and was called: “Pull Your Fingers Out and Claim It Back” — a reference to something that Julia said in the interview.

The discussion took place on Thursday 25 August 2011 at the Hotel International on London Road, opposite Piccadilly Station.

The first half was about past and present. A chance for people to ask follow-up questions about the interview, or anything they’d ever wanted to ask Julia Grant. The second was about the future. What changes we would like to see and how to achieve those.

You can watch the whole thing here. It’s in four parts, with a total running time of 128 minutes.

Interview with Julia Grant (video)

GS — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:47:54 +0000

A 70-minute interview with legendary Manchester gay village business woman Julia Grant.

A decade ago, Julia Grant was one of the best-known business owners in Manchester’s gay village and an outspoken voice in both the LGBT and mainstream media.

After Mardi Gras 1999 raised nothing at all for good causes, she ran the successful and free-to-enter GayFest for two years. But, some people — including local councillors and Manchester City Council — weren’t happy at all.

Unexpectedly, in 2002, Julia sold Hollywood Showbar and her other businesses and left. Despite rumours and malicious gossip since then, she didn’t speak out in public.

Now, in this exclusive interview Julia Grant reveals the LGBT history that you won’t see at the current Manchester Pride exhibition at The Lowry gallery. Plus she recalls the events that drove her out of the city.

This was recorded on 10 July 2011 during the Sparkle weekend.

Note: eventually, when time allows, archive photos, video and other media will be added to this interview.

Bye bye Operation Fundraiser

GS — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:38:27 +0000

The Manchester Pride website reports that Operation Fundraiser will be ‘will be hanging up its buckets’ this year.

Manchester Pride exaggerates Parade crowd figures by 500%

GS — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:37:53 +0000

250,000 do not watch the Parade as the organisers claim. The true figure is ‘tens of thousands’ and here is the proof.

Questions that Manchester Pride, Marketing Manchester & the Manchester Evening News don’t want to answer

GS — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 13:14:40 +0000

On 18 August 2006 I wrote to Manchester Pride with the following questions. I received a reply from Marketing Manchester, saying that I would get a ‘prompt reply’ just as soon as Pride was over. More than two months later I am still waiting…

Here is my letter: