Ralph Pigskin

I wrote this in response to my local council after it was decided to remove the Progress Pride flag within a week, replacing it with the Rainbow. I wrote to the council (see below) explaining why I was unhappy with their decision.

Updated on 2 July 2025. As expected, they didn’t reinstate progress in the town.

Wash your Pride in the River Dean – June 2025

You hoisted that flag —
the Progress Pride —
Like a promise.
Like a headline.
Like a photo op.
To clean up your dirty laundry.

Just one week of black, brown, trans brilliance
fluttering above your town,
until you folded it away —
not torn,
not dirty,
just inconvenient.
Did you think we wouldn’t notice?

And in its place,
The beautiful, safe, “no planning permission required” Rainbow.
The original.
From 1979.
Because that’s “inclusive enough,” you said.

1979, the year Thatcher rose to power —
the Iron Lady who gave us Clause 28,
who taught councils to be afraid of even acknowledging queerness.

And now your mayor —
not iron, not even plastic,
casts his heteronormative vote against progress,
because he still seems afraid.

Of discomfort.
Of difference.
Of change.
Of progress.

So take your bleached-out banner
and wash it in the River Dean.
Scrub off the brown.
Scrub off the black.
Scrub off the pink and blue
like they were stains instead of lives.

Hung out to dry above your council office,
You let it hang limp,
as a reminder of your ignorance.

We watched the dye run,
mingling into beige, right pocket,
as you flag your truth and rim the haters.

But listen.
Really listen:

You don’t get to wave that flag next year
and pretend you gave a shit.
We will be there.
We will remember.
And we will not let you pride-wash
your way into the minutes.

You didn’t reinstate the flag.
You didn’t erase your erasure.

We figured you wouldn’t.
Because you’ve already told us who matters to you.

My letter to the council:

I am writing to ask the council to revert their decision and reinstate the Pride Progress flag which has been changed to the more traditional rainbow flag mid Pride month.

This is being experienced as a politically motivated move designed specifically to further marginalise and erase specific groups within the LGBTQ+ community.

To make this decision and switch mid Pride month is sending a message that transgender, LGBT people of colour, interesx and HIV+ people will not find safety in REDACTED.

I hope that this was simply a misunderstanding of these communities and the significance of the Progress Pride flag, rather than a deliberate act to erase transgender identities which is, unfortunately, part of the current political landscape.

May I suggest that you switch the flag back to the Progress flag for the remainder of the Pride  month and then review your policy for next year. Personally, my thoughts are that if you want to switch away from the Pride Progress flag I suggest that you don’t show any affiliation to the LGBTQ+ community. May I also suggest that you do some consultation with the LGBTQ+ community within REDACTED, to help you understand what allyship could look like.