Our guest blogger is Robert Martin.
Robert is a freelance marketing consultant, photographer and filmmaker who has worked for organisations such as Manchester International Festival, The Lowry, Cornerhouse, Creative Tourist and many more.
Find him on Facebook here.
Here he remembers his first experience of SPARKLE, the national transgender celebration returning to Manchester for its 10th anniversary in July 2014.
As we walked down towards a spot where the sun still hit the outside tables around Via Fossa and The Rembrandt, a strange feeling came over me, as if I was in a twilight zone where things were just the same, but everything was different… I mean, there were more women around than usual but that wasn’t it. It wasn’t until we sat down that I realised what ‘it’ was.
Some of the men seemed a little different in their stance. Most of those women weren’t women at all…
I sipped my shandy, wide eyed as Little Bo Peep and Snow White walked by, listening to the deep voiced conversation coming from the large group of men in make up, wigs and dresses on the next table. All of them were straight. All of them were married. Some had children. Some had wives who knew where they were, some had wives who had come with them, some had kept their cross dressing firmly in the closet, telling their loved ones that they were ‘away on business’. All of them were braver than I could ever be.
This was my introduction to Sparkle.
It’s ten years since Sparkle took its first stilettoed foot into the world and in that time it has become one of the largest celebrations of and for transgender people in the world. This is thanks in part to the warm openness of the event, welcoming not only anyone who considers themselves transgender in any way, including those who simply like to dress up of a weekend, but also to their families, friends and colleagues.
Wednesday evenings in Manchester’s Gay Village have long been a beacon for trans men and women, known affectionately as Butterflies night, where a greater degree of wiggery, lips and lashes is in evidence. But what Sparkle does is take these butterflies and allows them to spread their wings wider, higher and brighter than ever in the colourful company of their peers.
For one glorious weekend of celebration, Manchester hosts talks, workshops and ‘Sparkle in the Park’, a two day party with the warmest welcome you’ll find anywhere. It’s a hugely important event, celebrating, normalising and generating pride in an area of LGBT life still suffering from prejudice from both outside and within its own communities.
I’ll never forget watching that table of married men say their goodbyes to each other - firm handshakes with painted nails – as they planned to see each other later that night. One bloke in a very short dress strode off alone in his high heels, muscular calves bulging, clomping away towards the ‘real world’ beyond and back to his hotel with a walk that could only be described as very, very manly.
I just can’t imagine the guts that that takes. Can you?
Sparkle
Fri 11 – Sat 13 July 2014
Happening in and around Manchester’s Gay Village.
Much of Sparkle, including Sparkle in the Park, has FREE entry. Some special events require purchased tickets.
Find out more here.
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