PSNI to be involved at Omagh’s first-ever Pride after organisers reverse exclusion decision

The PSNI had proposed having a stall at the Omagh event, due to take place next month.

But following a split vote organisers had opted against the proposal.

Now, however, the organisers have confirmed the PSNI will be involved.

A spokesperson for Omagh Pride said: “A representative from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s LGBT+ network will address the crowd from a trailer stage in South West College car park.”

As the News Letter has previously pointed out, gay / bisexual people are slightly over-represented in the PSNI workforce as a whole – in comparison to the figures for Northern Ireland’s population at large – and are hugely over-represented in the force’s intake of new recruits (see these links)

Click here: PSNI claim gay officers under-representated despite figures showing otherwise

Click here: PSNI says officers should work in an ‘empowering safe space’ and that everyone ‘should be an ally’

The organisers said the Omagh event, due to take place on September 25, has sold out.

They said: “The 500 capacity event is sold out and has reached its fundraising goal.

“The idea formed in May 2021 when two friends – poet Cat Brogan, 36, and community organisier Lorraine Montague, 34 – were discussing ways to build a creative, queer community in their hometown.

“Both had lived most of their adult lives outside Omagh and, like many, chose to come back home as a result of Covid. A Pride parade seemed a great place to start.”

In recent years, the focus of Pride events has changed somewhat.

Instead of being about homosexual acceptance and rights, issues like transgenderism have come to the fore, with activists insisting that men can be mothers just as legitimately as women, that women in turn can father children, and that there are in fact not two genders but a countless number of them, including such things as “neutrois”, “two-spirit”, and “genderqueer”.

Among other things, the press release announcing the Omagh event also contained the following quote, from an anonymous individual described as “a local mother of a trans-male teenager”:

“When my 15-year-old child ‘came out’ as a trans guy, it was reasonably easy for me but for others it will take time. Even I’m still getting used to the pronouns!

“My son has now become the person on the outside that he has always been inside.

“My biggest fear is the stigma he may encounter, but now he has support from his family.

“I don’t grieve the loss of a daughter, I rejoice at having another son!

“I’m glad to see Pride in my home town and I’m proud to be attending this event with my son.”

Click here: Belfast court trans judgment ‘a major change to the system’

Click here: Use transgender pronouns or face possible dismissal: new guidelines for NI’s 23,000 civil servants

Click here: DUP deputy’s entire remarks to LGBTQIA+ summer 2021 gathering show radical departure from past party position

Click here: Christian pastor: The day dad told me he was a woman

Click here: Director of group that trained PSNI dubbed police ‘racist oppressor pigs who deserve the wall’

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