{"id":15746,"date":"2018-07-19T15:47:39","date_gmt":"2018-07-19T14:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15746"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:36","slug":"pride-is-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15746","title":{"rendered":"‘Pride is Pride’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

When retired Unite member Betty Gallacher decided to organise Eastbourne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first ever gay pride last year, she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect to have to call the event \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMardi Gras\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to avoid ruffling some of the more conservative feathers in the seaside resort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sit well with Betty, 73, who moved to Eastbourne from London a few years ago, but the lifelong and indomitable LGBT+<\/a> activist pressed ahead regardless in the knowledge that her ultimate aim would win out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Betty said<\/a>, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeter Tatchell came off the stage and obviously said to the leader of the council \u00e2\u20ac\u0098why isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it called Pride?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 The leader came to me at the side of the stage and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Betty, I thought you wanted to call it Mardi Gras\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gay, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been gay all my life. Pride is Pride. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not Mardi Gras.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098You won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have that problem in the future.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 That was my goal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to have the first ever Pride at Eastbourne and we did it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was just one of many firsts Betty has achieved in her life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of my other peers were gay as well \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the corporal, the sergeant, the sergeant major \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but the three of us had to be sacrificed. They wrote to my father because I was 17 and said I had \u00e2\u20ac\u0098lesbian tendencies\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you can imagine the impact of that in Scotland in 1962. It was horrendous,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Betty said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Never hide<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was through her work on the buses<\/a> that Betty got involved in trade unionism, becoming the first ever woman convenor for bus transport workers in Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s predecessor union the T&G.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about really, earning respect and being honest. It was quite a laugh when I think back.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Betty also joined and then became chair of the regional women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and LGBT committees as well as securing the famous \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBetty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bus\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 from her employer, which was used by the union for London Pride parades and would be decorated in a different theme each year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite retiring in 2010, Betty is still going strong, running a caf\u0102\u00a9 for vulnerable people in Eastbourne and, of course, organising Pride.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve still got a lot of work to do.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When retired Unite member Betty Gallacher decided to organise Eastbourne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first ever gay pride last year, she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect to have to call the event \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMardi Gras\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to avoid ruffling some of the more conservative feathers in the seaside resort.   It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sit well with Betty, 73, who moved to Eastbourne from London a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[328],"wps_subtitle":"Unite member Betty Gallacher on organising Eastbourne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first ever Pride","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26039,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15746\/revisions\/26039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}