Bearing in mind 150,000 people are estimated to have attended this year’s Pride in Brighton and Hove, it will be interesting to see whether anything like the same support is reflected at Pride’s annual general meeting when there is an opportunity to show support and offer feedback.

Last November, I was one of just 25 who attended the AGM and took the opportunity to pose the question: “Is Brighton Pride still primarily a gay event?” to which I received the ambiguous response: “Pride is whatever you want it to be.”

This sounds fine in theory but seems a rather flimsy premise on which to build what has become the city’s major carnival.

And I suspect Jason Bull (Letters, August 7) speaks for hundreds of gay men when he suggests a lot of them now avoid Brighton Pride altogether or go to the street party in St James’s Street on the Sunday afternoon which is much more reminiscent of how Pride events used to be – almost exclusively gay, re-laxed, convivial and trouble-free. Isn’t it time to think again as to what Brighton Pride is really about and who it’s aimed at?

Surely it’s neither acceptable, nor sustainable, for the LGBT community to do most of the work arranging the event (including hosting countless functions to help raise funds) only to find that come Pride itself, the world and his wife are suddenly falling over themselves to be “gay for a day.”

There’s also the rather unedifying spectacle of assorted bars, restaurants and retailers jumping on the bandwagon, displaying rainbow flags in a bid to attract unwary customers. Then it’s surprising how quickly their “gay-friendliness” evaporates for the rest of the year.

Unless these core issues are addressed soon, my fear is that Brighton Pride is heading for a fall and is in danger of going the same way as London Pride which has rapidly descended into a stodgy, nothing event of little consequence.

Peter Lilley
Salisbury Road, Hove