There are two major events in the main Thanet towns this weekend Thanet Pride in Margate on Saturday and Ramsgate Carnival on Sunday.I just checked on the councils website for the times, there is a big splash for Dippers and Dunkers in Margate at the end of August and surprisingly as Ramsgate events are seldom mentioned there one for the Monster Bass in Ramsgate in the middle of August.
Well frankly I wasn’t that surprised to find nothing about Ramsgate Carnival as they didn’t put the lifeguards championships up last week, but it is very unusual for them not to give a major Margate event a big splash.
So why not Thanet Pride, I don’t suppose Brighton Council would – cover up their gay pride event – perhaps they would I don’t really know, what I am asking myself though is would the council have promoted it if was a major Margate event, but not a gay one.
Well I tried their sister site http://www.visitthanet.co.uk/ the front page is promoting Margate Carnival at the end of the month, which sounds about right for Ramsgate carnival week.
So I clicked on the “what’s on” link there and this came up.
18th - 25th July: Big Sky Jazz Festival
6th - 13th August - Broadstairs Folk Week
14th and 15th August - Monster Bass Festival
16th - 21st August - Ramsgate Week
20th - 27th August - Dippers and Dunkers
28th September - 3rd October - Broadstairs Food Festival
2nd and 3rd October - International Kite Festival
The picture is Ramsgate Carnival 1968 more of those here http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/history/id13.htm no historic pictures of gay events in Thanet as they would have been illegal, well certainly in 1968.
More to come on this one I think.
Yes more, it is always a bit tricky when one gets into discussing prejudice, women’s rights if one is male, racism if one is white and so on, gay rights are a bit different as one can’t necessarily tell who is gay and who isn’t. In a sense you are what you say you are although this isn’t always said with words.
I can’t for instance assume that this is because all of the major players in the council are straight, I just wouldn’t know.
In the book world most of us made up our minds some time ago, you either sided with Oscar Wilde or the Marquis of Queensbury, this was more a matter of taste and sensibility than anything else.
Now frankly the pink pound, in fact any pound is important to Margate, I was there earlier today and the traders I talked to didn’t seem exactly overjoyed about trade there at the moment.
I also get the impression that the amount that the council promote local events is directly proportional to the amount of our council tax they have spent on them. I don’t think that benefit to the local community can be a factor or they would have promoted last weeks lifeguard championships here in Ramsgate. It would be very difficult to argue a case that lifeguards weren’t beneficial to costal towns.
