INTERVIEW: Manchester's Young Queer Activists want more from Pride

Zane Marsland (they/them, nonbinary and queer) and James Campbell (he/him, bisexual) are part of a generation navigating a political climate that feels, by turns, terrifying and galvanising.

How they got here

Both cite direct experience of discrimination as the spark for their activism. For Zane, it began at school. “I developed social consciousness because of my experience with homophobia and transphobia from my peers, and that kind of made me get woke, and made me care about opposing discrimination.” That personal experience became a doorway into wider politics. “My experience of that made me care about other forms of discrimination too, so it was definitely a catalyst for my own activism.”

For James, the radicalising moment was visceral. He’s been called slurs in hospitality jobs, and once, walking at night with a male friend in Swinton, a man in a van slowed down and screamed abuse simply because he could see his friend’s waist. “I remember screaming at this old guy and kicking the back of his van and being like, this feels great.

I’m doing something about a problem rather than just taking it.” The experience connected his sexuality to a broader sense of political agency. “If we didn’t have those people I would still be bisexual but I wouldn’t be as proud, if I hadn’t overcome challenges from gross bigots that inhabit the place that I live and the country that I love.”