Pride outside the city
The rural Prides waiting to say “croeso”
Tucked away in the Welsh border town of Hay-On-Wye, the samba drummers are warming up. Farmers are picking out vegetables that look like boobs. And drag queens have captured the castle. This is what Pride 2023 looks like for rural communities.
BY ELLA GAUCI
Hay Pride was founded by Helen Jane Campbell (she/her) and Graham Nolan (he/him) with the goal to make a safe, accessible space for queer people living in the countryside. “Rurally, we are different from cities. We don’t have queer spaces,” Graham explains. “We don’t have community groups. We don’t have artists. That’s one of the really big reasons we feel that it is important work that we are doing.”