“Why is there no pride in Stirling?”
The relatively straightforward question was posed at a panel discussion held by LGBT Youth Scotland (a national charity for LGBTQ+ young people aged 13-25) last year. One of the five panelists leading the talk, Scott McMurray, couldn’t really think of an answer.
“They just kept asking and we were kind of like we don’t know.”
McMurray – who was acting as a representative for MSP Evelyn Tweed – said how his confusion only deepened following a consultation held in August of last year. It found that 91 percent of the almost 300 responses called for pride. McMurray, who grew up in Arran, explained how “I knew I was gay probably about the age of 10 or 11, I didn’t know the label for it at that stage but knew there was something. It was obviously a very small community, and it was quite closed-minded.”
McMurray left Arran for the University of Stirling in 2009 and found his first semblance of a gay scene.
“At that point in time, believe it or not, Stirling did have a sort of gay bar. It was called the Barnton Bistro, and it was sort of a gay bar… It was a nice place to go because you did feel you could kind of be yourself a bit.”
The bar shut in the early 2010s.
“There was nothing left really in Stirling, so you were constantly having to travel to Glasgow or Edinburgh or sometimes Dundee to access that [gay scene], so I moved to Glasgow in 2013.”
McMurray did return to Stirling in 2019.
“It seems crazy, a city with quite a thriving student population and there wasn’t anything.”
The thing that especially stuck with McMurray was Arran’s first pride.
“If Arran can have a pride with a population of four and a half thousand people, Stirling should really have a pride.”
And so, from February McMurray got involved in planning Stirling’s first ever pride. Also involved is Chair Sam Reid who works as a freelance artist. Reid explained how it “felt to me like something I needed to do for myself”.
“Growing up in Falkirk I didn’t necessarily witness any homophobia growing up, but it wasn’t a very accepting place either… you knew to not be too outlandish.”
Going to university in Edinburgh Reid explained how, “It was a vast change for me and really allowed me to fully delve into the LGBTQ world and understand who I am on a much deeper level.”
Seeing what she terms as the drastic change of growing up not knowing what being bisexual even meant, to being able to help bring pride to Stirling has been indescribable. While there have been some smaller events or attempts to hold a pride celebration, this is the first community led attempt in Stirling.
Low Confidence about safety at pride
Besides organisational issues, the consultation saw a low amount of confidence from respondents about feeling safe in the march; this may also explain why it has not been attempted before.
McMurray explained how “When we first started this, we did get people coming back to us and saying that Stirling is not as friendly as you think, but we’ve found that actually that’s not true and it’s been overwhelmingly positive”
“Every single business we’ve approached has done something to support us. Whether it’s as simple as saying ‘give me some posters, I’ll put them up in the window’ or ‘I’m happy to share posts on social media’. Everyone is doing something to help and being supportive,” said Reid.
“Generally, we hope that if we were to run that again after Pride that it might shift, and more people might feel comfortable,” said McMurray.
Through donations, multiple local businesses have become involved with the cause.
Stirling Pride and local businesses
McMurray said how, “The very first Gold Sponsor was Simpson and Co, the hairdressers in King Street. The same week we announced them as our first sponsor they announced that they were changing everything in their salon to be completely gender neutral.”
Reid explained how one sponsor emailed about how they were wanting to show support for a young family member that had recently come out.
“I remember reading that email and being like that is so sweet. They were so enthusiastic and really happy to be able to do something to show support.”
Thinking about the future, the pair hope to continue putting on regular LGBTQ events.
Reid said, “While it’s a lot more work, it is something that I think is needed. It gives a much more concrete we’re here, we’re queer, we’re not going anywhere kind of vibe instead of we’re just going to bombard the center one day a year.”
McMurray is especially looking forward to the “positive feeling” that pride will bring to the city center and what the future might hold.
Stirling Pride Day will take place on Saturday the 21st of September with the main stage on Kings Street and a Pride Market and second stage in Fubar.
Featured Image Credits: Stirling Pride
South African student journalist in my second year of doing my Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Journalism Studies.
Instagram: @x_.lin_x
