Manchester Pride staff caught on live video misleading the public in 2017

The third annual event since the ruling by the Local Government Ombudsman. Since 2015 Greater Manchester Police has briefed Pride's security staff about what their responsibilities and "powers" are. Yet they continue to mislead the public at the gates. Hands up anyone who still believes this is accidental...

In this first clip on Saturday 26 August 2017 at 20:20 a member of staff at the Minshull Street gate is caught on a live video stream telling a man that he can't come "on the street" without a wristband. This is a lie. It is unlawful to obstruct him. But as soon as it's clear that he knows his rights, he is able to walk in.

Laughably Manchester Pride claims to campaign "for the advancement of LGBT+ equality". In reality they prey on and exploit vulnerable people who aren't informed about their rights.

In this second clip staff at the gate beside the Thompsons Arms bar unlawfully obstruct and delay two men who again know their rights and a whole lot more about Manchester Pride! Monday 28 August 2017 at 04:33.

Many walked in without a problem in 2017. However this coming Manchester Pride you may like to record as you walk through just in case you experience an issue. If you do then please send us the video clip or upload it somewhere and send the link.

What kind of organisation continues doing this in full view of the public, knowing it's unlawful?

Factsheet 2022/23

Our 2022 Factsheet (PDF) about Manchester Pride is available (there won't be a new factsheet for 2023). Read about your right to access the Gay Village without buying a wristband, history & opinion .

Download the PDF version.

And here it is as two images (handy for sharing on social media): page 1 | page 2

Our factsheet from 2021 is still well-worth a look. It has four pages of facts, gossip and fun. Download it as a PDF here. See our factsheets page for other years.

Useful reading

The ruling by the Local Government Ombudsman in April 2015 (PDF). The Ombudsman decided that Manchester City Council had exceeded its powers by mentioning wristbands in a traffic order and that it was unlawful to restrict access to premises (businesses and homes).

Minutes of a meeting at Marketing Manchester in November 2002. These show that those present were told they couldn't charge people to enter public streets. However some of them went ahead and did so from 2003 onwards for a decade.

At the meeting were: Manchester City Council, GHT, the LGF (now known as the LGBT Foundation), Marketing Manchester, the organisers of Europride 2003. The advice seems to have come from the police. Yet the police apparently then turned a blind eye...

This document was unearthed at the Library Archives quite recently by a FactsMCR campaigner.

The media

Since the ruling by the Local Government Ombudsman in 2015 the media — both LGBT and mainstream — have stayed silent about the decade-long wristband fiddle and your rights. So some people continue to pay unnecessarily.

All your favourites know: GayStarNews, Pink News, Manchester Evening News, The Guardian, BBC and many more. In a letter to us, the BBC defended its journalist right not to report this. The same BBC that championed consumer rights at one time now prefers to cosy up to the civil-rights-infringing Manchester Pride, as a "sponsor" (the BBC says it doesn't give money).

These organisations don't need to lie. They simply ignore an issue completely. Or, they report some of the facts; perhaps popping in just one or two bits they don't like, to add a fake impression of balance. That's how they manipulate opinion in the direction they think it should go.

The veteran ITV reporter John Pilger says that "not reporting" is the most powerful form of censorship.

What else aren't they telling us?