Margate Pride nine years on: 'You are loved, you are welcome here'

It may be hard to imagine for some, given that the Margate Pride of today takes over the town, but just 300 people or so gathered for the first Pride event back in 2016. 

Holding cardboard signs, the protesters marched from the Turner to the clocktower, a walk which took three minutes by the estimation of Amy Zing, Margate Pride’s co-founder. 

“It was the cutest,” Amy recalls. “I remember one older trans woman holding a handmade cardboard banner that said ‘SURVIVOR’. I just hugged her tight and was so proud and happy she was there with us. I see her every year.” 

In the 15 years Amy has lived in Margate, she’s seen four iterations of Margate Pride come and go. Each one, despite being “excellent”, lasting just a year. One, according to the “gay grapevine”, may or may not have ended with Bucks Fizz on a seafront stage getting washed away because organisers forgot to check tide times. 

Pride’s current guise came about when Amy and others realised Margate needed a consistent, grassroots Pride after hearing about and witnessing homophobic attacks around town. 

They set out to make an event in which young queer kids could see themselves in and know “they are perfect just as they are”, while advocating for queer rights and equality.

“I want Margate Pride to feel like a big, warm, loving hug from your favourite friend,” Amy says. “But also, a place to protest together, safely and powerfully, taking to the streets.

“Queer family is chosen family. There's still so many battles to fight and we are so much stronger together.”

She adds that Pride is everyone’s day, saying: “Allies are so important to the queer community. To see families, dogs, couples, groups of friends with pride flags; it's emotional, it's beautiful, it’s just so important.  

“Pride is the perfect day to say 'you are loved, you are welcome here'.”  

Nine years on, Amy’s Pride has gone from a quick stroll along the beachfront to a two-week spectacular with fundraisers, quiz nights, performances, visual arts, craft sessions, exhibitions and social meet ups in the lead up to the main day, and a string of after parties in the aftermath. And much of Margate gets behind it all. 

“The town has come a long way since we started, and it’s wonderful to see so many queer-led businesses and ventures,” Amy says, boasting that Margate is the second most gay town in Kent, according to the most recent census. 

“It warms our hearts. But in truth, the world is still a very hard place to be LGBTQIA+, there are 64 countries where it is still illegal.  

“There is a very long way to go until our beautiful rainbow family receives the same freedom as heterosexual people have just through existing, and until that day, we need Pride.” 

Part of Margate Pride’s charm is its chaotic energy, which could be the influence of the iconic Sink the Pink club night, which Amy also co-founded. 

“The DIY, grassroots, art-led, wacky-Sue, lawless energy is very similar,” Amy says as she compares the two events. “But running a club night is very different to a town-wide Pride.  

“Taking in venues, road closures, parades; its heart is very similar, but the realities are that I spend less time rolling around in a leotard and facepaint as I used to.”

Ordering toilets and sorting out road closures aside, some of the most memorable moments for Amy over the years speak to the fact that a big part of Pride is about challenging assumptions - Amy’s included. 

She recalls a past Pride where she came down the road from Cliftonville to see a “red-faced aggressive-looking guy standing alone, holding his chest out”. 

“I panicked,” Amy says. “I stood in front of my friends and held my son tight.”

As the group walked closer to the man, Amy saw he was holding his chest out, showing off his t-shirt which read ‘I’m proud of my gay son’. 

“He stood there, proudly, chest high, he didn't say anything, but we waved and smiled and he waved and we all teared up.  

“I'll never forget it, because it taught me a lot about making assumptions based on looks.”

As Margate Pride swelled, the day’s main festivities moved from the bandstand to Dreamland, where they will return once more in just a few weeks. And there’s a stack of stuff going on, day and night, with the daytime programming free. 

Snaking its way from Walpole Bay Lawns along The Esplanade, the parade ends at Dreamland, which will host LGBTQIA+ stalls, the Pride rally and the annual Mx Margate beauty pageant. 

“We have a chance to showcase local queer musicians and see everyone's fave Margate choir the Social Singing Choir bash out some camp classics,” Amy adds. 

The first Margate Youth Pride will also take place this year at Dreamland too, with live music, crafting and junior Pride pageant, Little Mx Margate. This is also free. 

Come the evening, Pride has brought in big hitters Jodie Harsh, Bimini Bon Boulash and Raven Mandella as headliners, with local drag acts and queer talents of the likes of Dame Jame, Pretzel Cage, Janet District Council and Shelly Grotto also taking the stage. 

Given that Peaches rocked up last year to belt out a few tunes and Tom Rasmussen sung Joy backed by the Social Singing Choir, who knows what the stand out moments for this year’s festival will be.

One might expect Amy has plans to continue to expand the festival, however it seems she thinks Pride has found its sweet spot. 

“Where do we go from here? Can we fit any more folks into town on that day?” she jokes. 

“We love it being grassroots, DIY, spacious and gorgeous, so as it grows we'll have to upscale certain elements, but honestly, right now just as it is the dream - a bunch of proud, happy queers and allies walking down our coastline hand in hand in pride.”

That said, Amy does have ambitions to “smash that census” and make Margate the gayest place in Kent. 

It’s clear Amy is proud about Pride and of Margate, but for her, it’s knowing that the born and bred Margaters on the Pride team can see real change for the town’s queer folk from childhood to now, that she’s really chuffed about. 

“To see same sex couples holding hands comfortably, walking dogs, living their lives. To see rainbows in shops all year round and fill this town with beautiful queers and allies.

“To walk the streets the other days of the year and remember scenes from Pride day with a warm heart. What a dream.”

Margate Pride is on August 10. Parade kicks off at 12pm from Walpole Bay Lawns. Daytime programming is free, but register for numbers. For more timings and information visit margatepride.org.uk