Joe Lycett inspires mum to host a ‘first of its kind’ pride event after selling pin badges during stand-up gig

Joe Lycett has inspired a mother to launch a 'first-of-its-kind' Pride event in Southport. Jennifer Corcoran, 42, from Southport, felt the urge to make a difference within her local community after attending a Joe Lycett show in Liverpool last year. She describes Joe as: “a consumer rights and human rights champion,” and commends him for “using his powers for good”. 

At the show, the Late Night Lycett presenter told audience members how he organised a pride event in Birmingham. As well as this, he was selling pin badges with the message: “Sometimes if you want something to exist, you have to make it yourself.”

Jennifer told BirminghamWorld that “the stars aligned” as she had not planned to attend the show, but found herself inside the M&S Bank Arena watching Joe, just 30 hours after her friend surprised her with tickets.

As a result, she is now hosting Southport’s first ever pride event this summer. As well as being inspired by the proudly pansexual comedian, Jennifer felt a pride event was long overdue in her hometown. She said: “I think it is important to honour the members of the community who originated Pride with the Stonewall uprising and stand up and show solidarity and unity everywhere.  

“I know there are major events in our nearest cities of Liverpool and Manchester, but they may not be accessible – there could be young people (and older people!) who will see this event and feel supported, even validated.”

The event, Sefton Pride, will be held at Victoria Park in Southport from 12-6pm on 16 July. Jennifer explained how the event aims to unify all of Sefton, as well as being open to visitors who are not from the borough: “Whilst the event is in Southport, I am a borough councillor in Sefton and also a member of networking groups such as the Performers Network and Equal Voice Network – I think we are stronger together and I wanted to be inclusive.

“We would love to welcome visitors who are not from this borough to celebrate with us – Southport is a gorgeous seaside town with so much to offer and we would love to see you!”

Visitors to Jennifer’s event can expect local singers, DJs, poets, and a choir. There will also be food and drink and children’s entertainers from the world of drag artistry. There are also expected to be special guests in attendance, who will be revealed nearer to the time.

Jennifer stated it would be “flipping amazing” to have Joe Lycett at the event, but a cameo from Mummy is not yet on the cards, despite efforts to contact him from the @sefton_pride Instagram account. She hopes Joe will be in attendance, as he “inspires people to speak their truth and do the right thing.”

Sefton Pride will be the outcome of a year of extremely hard work from Jennifer and those around her. She explained how over two decades of living in the town has helped her to build up a network of people to help her put on the “first of its kind” pride event. She listed: Alan Adams - general manager of Victoria Park, Sefton CVS, Natasha Sandland, Southport BID, Sefton Council, and Sam - SMASH design and illustrations graphic designer as just some of the people and organisations who have played a role in helping her vision to become a reality. She was also pleased to share that the event organisers are working with an award winning disability activist to maximise accessibility.

A councillor for Southport Labour party, Jennifer explained how she feels the election of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister in 2019 caused a regression in acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community. Jennifer said: “Sadly, our last general election gave a mandate to a man who uses hate speech and treats it as “banter” – add to this a divisive narrative in mainstream media and the “us and them” and judgement is amplified.”

In addition to her pride event, Jennifer is launching a community interest company - Sefton Pride CIC. As well as running workshops, the company hopes to work with local schools to help engrain more constructive attitudes towards equality. She said: “We have also been in touch with schools and hope to facilitate educational events such as debates.  If done well, this can be a really healthy and constructive way to share views, learn to understand the views of others and communicate constructively.”  The interest company also aims to promote a culture of “being okay to be wrong, if you check and correct it”.

Jennifer has so far been pleased with the positive response from her community for the upcoming free event. She stated: “We are very lucky that lots of people have been willing to donate their time and resources to show their support for the event and the community,” and added: ”The most rewarding thing has been members of the community feeling supported and letting us know how excited they are!”