Pride, without prejudice.

Well, it's that time of year again – Brighton Pride will be busting out all over the city this weekend! The rainbow flags are out, tents and stages of all shapes and sizes are appearing in various festive locations and the phrase 'Gayer than a Brighton Bus Stop' has been given a whole new meaning by the transformation of one of our iconic bus shelters into a rather garish work of art. And it's a special celebration this year, as we mark the 50th anniversary of the (partial) deciminalisation of male homosexuality in Britain – a landmark step towards the equality laws of today.

Just imagine what someone visiting the city from the back of beyond, with little or no idea of Brighton's reputation as a magnet for all things LGBTQ, would make of it all. 'BRIGHTON PRIDE – wow, these people have a great sense of civic identity! Why don't we do anything like this back home? A bit over the top, actually … but it's a nice colourful procession … wait a minute, what's this? Who are these people? Are those men or women? What does that banner say? Ye Gods, the place is crawling with gender-benders of every possible description! Why didn't they specify that it was a Gay thing? Is this what people round here regard as normal?'

Well yes, we do actually. We've come a long way since those raw, angry days of the 1980s when Charlie Raven and I used to join the London Gay Pride Marches, striding along in our dungarees sporting badges assuring bemused or hostile spectators that Lesbians Were Everywhere whilst chanting 'What is Gay? GOOD! What else is Gay? ANGRY!' Those marches were much-needed political protests, but not really celebrations of diversity; the homosexual community had only just managed to accommodate the word 'Lesbian' alongside 'Gay' and the acronym LGBTQ was unheard of. The lesbian community itself was divided – there was a chilly standoff between feminist Dungaree Dykes and old-style Butch/Femme identities – and those of us who suspected (well okay, knew full well) that we actually came under the 'B' label were definitely persona non grata. 'No Bicycles!' was a popular badge at the time, while a heated debate raged as to whether the newly-opened London Lesbian & Gay Centre should admit bisexual members. 'You lot have a choice', the reasoning went, 'Therefore you're not truly oppressed and can't claim solidarity with the rest of us'. As for the Trans community, they were well and truly ostracised, by feminist lesbians at least - a trans friend of ours was reduced to tears when denied a pair of custom-made shoes by a feminist collective on the grounds that she was 'not a real woman'.

What a difference a generation makes! Thirty-odd years later, we have the LGBTQ community celebrating its diversity by welcoming not only those who identify as bisexual or transgender, but also those who dwell on the periphery, questioning distinct gender identities and expectations whilst not necessarily wishing to pin themselves down. It's a wonderfully liberating development which has only been made possible by the struggle of those brave pioneers, the gay men and lesbians whose stories have been movingly featured in the BBC's recent 'Gay Britannia' programmes; and of course for many LGBT people all around the world, the struggle for rights and recognition continues. But here in Brighton, we have the privilege of being able to celebrate our diverse population with a civic festival that everyone can enjoy – with PRIDE.

(Can't join us this weekend? Why not delve into a bit of LGBTQ history with a couple of stories set against the criminalisation of male homosexuality back in the late 19th century: My Dearest Holmes and A Case of Domestic Pilfering ...)