During Manchester Pride, a group of homophobic protesters gathered on the sidelines with anti-gay placards. These protestors were shouted down by Coronation Street actor Nicola Thorp who took to the microphone from the Corrie float saying: “This is our church, show some respect.”

This was met by huge cheers from the thousands supporting the annual event in the city centre. Nicola was one of a number of the soap’s cast who took part in Manchester Pride over the weekend under the theme “Circus of Acceptance”, which was a celebration at the “many different types of LGBT+ people, each with their own individual quirks, skills, differences and fascinations!”.

The protestors were gathered waving anti-gay placards on Peter Street and were against the parade on religious grounds. When the Corrie float drove by, Nicola made her thoughts on this known.

She said: “It’s a shame that you felt you needed to show your presence here today. You and your beliefs are not welcome here. You are not welcome to come and judge our sexuality.

“We will not come to preach at your church. This is our church. Show some respect.” The protest group held placards which read, “Pride goes before destruction”, “Be sure your sin will find you out” and quotes from the bible about sin.

Corrie star Antony Cotton also responded to the protestors message. He jumped down from the float to wave a rainbow flag at protestors and shared a kiss with his boyfriend Peter.

Attacks On The Rise

There have been a number of homophobic and transphobic attacks targetting Pride events throughout the UK. During Brighton Pride, a number of attacks happened.

A vicious attack in a takeaway resulted in one 21 year-old man sustaining a broken jaw and stitches to his face and his 22 year-old friend receiving minor facial injuries. Three men entered the kebab shop and made a series of derogatory insults and comments about homosexuality before arguing with and attacking the young men.

In a further incident, Twitter user Benjamin Butterworth followed up a post about enjoying his time at Brighton Pride with video of a man on his train home threatening to kill gay people. As Benjamin stated, “He held one hand down his pants, and gazing over us he declared that he had a knife. He told us he would stab every gay person on the train. ‘You’re in London now,’ he said, ‘we carry knives here.’”

https://twitter.com/benjaminbutter/status/1026097258088083456