EXETER LIVES Chatting with Exeter Pride’s Simon Bowkett

SIMON BOWKETT Chair of Exeter Pride, and all-round champion of local indies, Simon Bowkett talks life in the city…

Whereabouts do you live? Last summer my partner and I moved to Pennsylvania because she was about to start a Masters and PhD pathway at the University of Exeter. We’d previously lived near iddlemoor. The rst two weeks it took us ages to get to sleep because it’s so quiet here! We also have a lively cocker spaniel, Byron, who loves the fact that we have Mincinglake, Stoke Woods, Belvedere and Duryard green spaces so close.

Tell us about your day job… After 25 years of working in homelessness, addiction serices, and with offenders in the community, I’m poacher turned gamekeeper and now work as a senior policy adviser in the homelessness and rough sleeping unit at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Before the pandemic, I was working three days a week in Westminster and two from home – a great mix – but now it’s all from home, of course. I was whisked into working on our “Everyone In” Covid response in March, which saw 15,000 homeless people given emergency accommodation during lockdown. It undoubtedly saved lives, and is something I’m immensely proud of.

And your work at Exeter Pride… I have the easiest job! I’m just the Chair. Putting Exeter Pride on every year is an amazing feat that is accomplished by dedicated volunteers, activists, local businesses, community organisations, and public services pulling together to put on the most amazing display of solidarity, love, and not just tolerance – but a celebration of our local queer community.

What have you learnt about Exeter and its people? Exeter can be really proud of the way that the whole city has put our Pride on the map. We are one of the

“This is a city that is comfortable in its diversity”

largest free-to-attend Prides in the country, traditionally the rst ride of the year in the UK, and the level of attendance we achieve is well above what would be expected in a city our size. This is a city that is comfortable in its diversity, and has phenomenal community spirit.

You had to cancel the Exeter Pride main event this year, what have you got planned instead? We had our AGM last month, and have a great new group of trustees to plan this year’s cycle. We are planning a year-long programme – in collaboration with others – to make sure things are happening that people can connect with – some in the “real world” when safe to do so, and some online.

In order to build that sense of connectedness with our community, and with Pride as a charity, we will shortly be launching a membership scheme. We have a working group pulling it together as we speak, so watch our socials and website for an announcement.

What are your ambitions for Exeter Pride? This is my second year as Chair, and we serve two-year terms. Last year (for my 50th) I went to New York for their Pride, and for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. There I met activists from the Reclaim Pride Coalition, who were concerned that “mainstream” Prides risked being turned into corporate carnivals with rainbows and glitter slapped on them. I took part in their Queer Liberation March – the “antidote” to New orks ocial pride which was a grassroots demonstration against LGBTQ+ poverty, homelessness, transphobia, homophobia and racism in US immigration services... it reminded me why Prides started.

I’m so lucky to be surrounded by trustees who also think we need our Pride to be outspoken, championing people and ethical local businesses, to be more inclusive and accessible, to be unashamed of talking about the marginalisation and discrimination many in our community still eel. eter ride is denitely going back to the roots of the Pride movement.

What positives have you taken from the last few months? Professionally, the amazing response to homelessness during Covid has been incredible, and shows what can be done when we as a nation have the collective will to do something. On a personal level, living in such a beautiful part of the world during lockdown made life far easier. My London-based colleagues were not impressed by the amount of video calls I made from a sunny garden, riverside, or hilltop!

Where are your favourite places to eat and drink in Exeter? For drinks, as Pride trustees we always try to support Yvan and his great team at The Oddfellows – they’re a great example of a local business that champions others in the way they source their products and collaborate.

What great thing about Exeter does not receive enough attention? Indie crafters like the Recycled Candle Company in Gandy treet check out their T ag candles!) And shout out to lovely Gabrielle at the Den Barber who is massively pro-Pride and queerfriendly and has the most amazing rapport with her LGBTQ+ and gender non-binary customers.

Times are uncertain at the moment, what do you know for certain? As a queer civil servant, I’ll leave the last word in these weird Covid times to a far more famous and eloquent queer civil servant, Quentin Crisp; “Treat all disasters as if they were trivialities... but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster.” ■

For more: www.exeterpride.co.uk