NEWS Pride 2004 'Wedding March' ends in divorce September 28, 2004 Crowds queuing for ablution facilities Johannesburg — Looking back over the past few months, it is safe to say that this year's Pride was marred by a string of bad articles regarding the Pride organizers debt history. In the spirit of building a community bond, Gmax.co.za and other players within the community supported the efforts to get this year's Pride up and running. Our efforts were apparently in vain, as the exceptionally bad attendance only went to prove that the current Pride organizers have managed to run Pride into the ground. Although the entertainment was of the highest quality, what was seriously disappointing was the fact that hundreds of attendants were not allowed to enter as they could not pay the R30 cover charge (this cover change implemented for the first time ever). It is understandable that Pride needs to make money in order to cover its expenditures, but various questions have been raised as to who the money is actually going to, and who is keeping track of its expenditure. Soon to be released in the next issue of Gay Pages are a string of comments from community leaders as to the future of Pride, and certainly the future of Gary Bath's involvement. All community organizations from Gmax.co.za to Gay Pages and the Equality Project are calling for Mr. Bath's resignation from the Pride committee, and for the Pride festivities to be repackaged. Get your copy of Gay Pages as soon as it hits the stand. Pride 2004 was less well attended than previous years, however this did not stop the organizers communicating to the media that there were approximately 15 000 people in attendance, when in actual fact there could not have been more than 4 000. Aside from the poor numbers, the Pride festivities also recorded a record low in the number of stalls. In respect to the stall layout, what Gmax.co.za found to be extremely tasteless was the fact that the Nkosi Haven's stall was placed directly opposite to a sex accoutrement stall, prompting Gail Johnson to state that should any of her children start asking questions, she would send them directly to the stall manager. COME ON, what were the Pride organizers thinking! But perhaps the most disgusting thing to report on was the fact that those thousands that attended the festivities were all forced to use a single block of public toilets, which by the early afternoon was spilling out water and sewerage! Not a single portable toilet in site! Could this perhaps be because Mr. Bath did not pay the bill last year? One thing is for sure, should Mr. Bath be involved in the organization of next year's Pride (or any other community event) Gmax.co.za will not only not support it, we will vehemently lobby against the communities participation. The failure of this year's Pride falls directly onto the shoulders of Mr. Bath. It is time Pride divorce itself from those who would drag its name through the mud (or in this case raw sewerage).– own correspondent Related stories Gay community did not react 'violently' to arrest threats [28/09/2004]