‘Pride is Pride’

When retired Unite member Betty Gallacher decided to organise Eastbourne’s first ever gay pride last year, she didn’t expect to have to call the event “Mardi Gras” to avoid ruffling some of the more conservative feathers in the seaside resort.

It didn’t sit well with Betty, 73, who moved to Eastbourne from London a few years ago, but the lifelong and indomitable LGBT+ activist pressed ahead regardless in the knowledge that her ultimate aim would win out.

Now, after the undisputed success of the first event, at which Betty arranged for legendary LGBT+ campaigner Peter Tatchell to speak, the 2018 Eastbourne Pride this Saturday (July 21) will be called exactly that.

Betty said, “Peter Tatchell came off the stage and obviously said to the leader of the council ‘why isn’t it called Pride?’ The leader came to me at the side of the stage and said, ‘Betty, I thought you wanted to call it Mardi Gras’.

“I said, ‘I’m gay, I’ve been gay all my life. Pride is Pride. It’s not Mardi Gras.’ He said, ‘You won’t have that problem in the future.’ That was my goal – to have the first ever Pride at Eastbourne and we did it.”

It was just one of many firsts Betty has achieved in her life.

Born in Dalkeith in Scotland, Betty joined the army at 17 as an administrator. After being reported for homosexuality, she was dishonourably discharged along with two other women soldiers.

“Many of my other peers were gay as well – the corporal, the sergeant, the sergeant major – but the three of us had to be sacrificed. They wrote to my father because I was 17 and said I had ‘lesbian tendencies’ – you can imagine the impact of that in Scotland in 1962. It was horrendous,” Betty said.

Never hide

Following her expulsion from the army, Betty vowed never to hide the fact that she was a gay woman. She moved to London and found work as a bus conductor and later as a driver that would turn into a career that would span more than 40 years.

It was through her work on the buses that Betty got involved in trade unionism, becoming the first ever woman convenor for bus transport workers in Unite’s predecessor union the T&G.

She said, “When I first became a rep, there were 74 male shop stewards and me. But people accepted me because I was strong and I knew who I was and I earned respect. That’s what it’s all about really, earning respect and being honest. It was quite a laugh when I think back.”

Betty also joined and then became chair of the regional women’s and LGBT committees as well as securing the famous “Betty’s Bus” from her employer, which was used by the union for London Pride parades and would be decorated in a different theme each year.

Despite retiring in 2010, Betty is still going strong, running a café for vulnerable people in Eastbourne and, of course, organising Pride.

She said, “I care that people get treated with dignity and respect, no matter their culture, skin colour, gender or sexuality. I thank the union because of all the education I had empowered me to be able to go out and do all these things. I’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Eastbourne Pride takes place this Saturday (July 21), with a particular focus on the difficulties many transgender children face. For more information click here.