Fife Pride: What it means to those on stage

Fifer Amy Lou, who is performing on Saturday with her band The Monday Club, says the Kirkcaldy event has something special.

She said: “This’ll be year number three that I’ve been playing with the band at Fife Pride. It’s changed a lot in Kirkcaldy. We play Edinburgh, Glasgow, and all over, but Fife’s the best.

“Some of the larger events are mega-commercial at heart, whereas Fife isn’t like that. It’s a community event.

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“I remember the first year it was announced, and some questioned having it in Kirkcaldy, but, when the event came, everyone was completely blown away by it because of the huge response it got.

“In the first year I think everybody kind of had that thought, like; ‘oh my god, something decent in Fife!’.

“Fifers can be quite humble, but with this we can blow our own trumpet.

“Fife’s event isn’t so much of a protest, it’s more of a celebration. the way I see Fife Pride is different from any other Pride.

“Fife Pride is a lot more inclusive of straight people, and straight allies, whereas in Edinburgh of Glasgow it’s very much about closing off just the LGBT community, and that’s not what Pride is about. When you go to Fife there’s more room for everybody.”

Ross Kirkam, who will be hosting Saturday’s event as April Adamas, grew up in Fife with same-sex parents.

He feels that Fife Pride could just be the starting point for more events.

He said: “To me Fife Pride is a very personal thing, as an LGBT youth in Fife, I feel like we need something more. I’ve tried to bring more things in, but Fife Pride is the biggest event that we have.

“It’s going really well, we’ve had a massive impact already, and we can already see that there’s positive change even in the case of a recent flag burning in Kirkcaldy.

“It sparked positive things, it got a lot of attention from the wider community and people have been saying ‘we might be straight, but this isn’t on’ – that’s a massive thing that’s sparked conversation.

“With it being the 50th anniversary of Stonewall we need to go back to our roots. Fifty years ago we were fighting for gay rights, but now our trans brothers and sisters don’t have the rights they should. It’s about getting the rights that you deserve as a human being, whether you’re gay, lesbian, bisexual, or straight.”

Ross says recent comments by politician Ann Widdecombe – suggesting that science might “produce an answer” to being gay – show the need to continue to struggle against inequality.

He said: “There are things happening in politics that we need to be addressing.

“To the politician who said it; being gay is not a disability, it is not an illness, we can not be cured.

“It’s not a battle won yet. We still have to get a few bruised knees and scraped elbows before we get the battle won.”

Ross says April is looking forward to entertaining the crowd.

“You’re going to get the full works, April will be there with bells and whistles. This year’s going to be the best yet!”