Making Pride seriously fun  Gay pride parades are no longer at
the forefront of political change, but that doesn't mean they
are just carnivals     • Jump to comments () Dressed in pink at
Gay Pride Weekend 2009 in London A reveller at Gay Pride.
Photograph: Johnny Green/PA  This weekend's "Pride and (No)
Prejudice" Brighton Pride parade was a melee of colour, glitter,
Regency-era drag, big muscles, even bigger hair and irritatingly
infectious high-scene pop and dance tracks.  Such was the din
created by the whistles and the vuvuzelas sold along the
procession route that it was sometimes difficult to hear the
chants of "Pride is a protest" made by an intrepid minority of
people carrying placards bearing the same slogans. But in the
face of increasing apathy towards Pride in some quarters of the
gay community, does this ideological call-to-arms still hold
true?  When gay pride marches began following the Stonewall
riots in 1969, there was virtually no language in the UK for
protesting against homophobia and in