Lawrence Chaney, Bob the Drag Queen and more tell all in My Pride, sponsored by Taimi
Alaska, Glow Up’s Dominic Skinner and fashionista Henry Holland join also star in a new series for Attitude Pride at Home, in association with Klarna.
By Will Stroude
Pride means different things to all of us – parades and carnivals, the parties to end all parties, or just a sense of self-worth that comes with quiet validation.
Well, all variations and then some are celebrated in a new video series sponsored by LGBTQ social network Taimi and produced for Attitude’s YouTube and social channels as part of the upcoming Pride at Home digital festival, in association with Klarna (17-27 June).
My Pride, sponsored by Taimi, features the star of BBC’s Glow Up, Dominic Skinner, fashion designer Henry Holland and no less than three legendary queens of the drag age – RuPaul’s Drag Race season two winner Lawrence Chaney, the iconic Bob the Drag Queen and the glorious but carefully-punctuated Alaska Thunderf**k.
Lawrence Chaney recalls a first trip to Edinburgh Pride, and the shock of finding out that “drag queens aren’t like vampires, in that they don’t just come out at night – there they were marching on the street in broad daylight!” But does the girl like a sing and dance in a crowd? Clue: she does.
Bob the Drag Queen, meanwhile, talks gay couples in matching tank tops at Atlanta Pride back in the day, and performing at Capital Pride in DC with Naomi Smalls the day after the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, and of a community bonding experience like no other. Oh, and autographing a lesbian couple’s baby. As you do.
“I found a place where it seemed like there were no rules!” says Alaska Thunderfxxk of her first pride experience, “And I was completely down with that.”
She recalls finding love and respect, and shaving her head one year in solidarity with Britney Spears. “But my bestie had done the same thing, so we looked like twins…”
The lovely Dominic Skinner reflects on the changing of Pride over time. “As a younger man it was about being seen, about being openly me, but over time I think you become more political and more engaged and more attuned to the rights of others.”
Though he admits to crying at his first Pride: “A combination of Holly Johnson and fireworks was just too much for me!”
Henry Holland gets similarly dewy-eyed at a favourite memory having marched at Manchester Pride as a group supporting the Albert Kennedy Trust, hand-in-hand with both his husband and his step-Mum.
“Seeing the discrimination and rejection the young people AKT work with have experienced, juxtaposed with the love of my own family unit is humbling, but the warmth of the welcome and the feeling of love is uplifting.” Amen to that.
My Pride, sponsored by Taimi, is part of Attitude Pride at Home, in association with Klarna, that runs from 17-27 June at attitude.co.uk, youtube.com/attitudemag and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@attitudemag).
Attitude Pride at Home, in association with Klarna, is to benefit the Attitude Magazine Foundation for LGBT causes – this year supporting ten amazing organisations including AKT, Black Trans Foundation, Curly’s Legacy, Elton John AIDS Foundation, The Food Chain, Kaleidoscope Trust, LGBT Youth Scotland, Mermaids, Stonewall UK and Switchboard LGBT.
Each will receive at least £1000 courtesy of our sponsors Klarna, Bentley, Clifford Chance, Slingsby, Swatch and Taimi and individual supporters.
To donate £5 please text ATHOME5 to 70480 or see our Virgin Money Giving link here. Visit attitudemagazinefoundation.com for more details.