Redruth is a hotspot for brilliant energy

Striving for an accessible Pride and a hate-free Cornwall, Matthew Kenworthy Gomes’s philosophy is that you shouldn’t have to pay for a space to be yourself. “Cornwall Pride is about bringing focus and hope to the LGBTQ+ community when there is so little in the media world,” he explains.  

Matthew believes that Pride should be highlighting queer people and spreading hope, not an expensive gathering. After much research and feedback, he realised a lot of Cornwall viewed Pride as merely a massive party in the beginning. However, after developing the conversation, they managed to turn the tables. This research has ‘allowed Pride to be involved with each community,’ and ensure that Pride, in towns such as Redruth, is a place where people can go to be themselves in a space that doesn’t usually let them. 

As someone who has lived in Cornwall his entire life, Matthew understands that some people avoid Redruth, believing it is ‘run down’ and unloved.’ However, in his eyes Redruth Pride is eclectic. He admits that some team members didn’t want to attend Redruth Pride for the first time, however after seeing and hearing about it, they went the following year and loved it. “Redruth is a hotspot for real, raw, brilliant energy, which is exactly what Pride is about,” he tells me. While some towns want to tone down Pride, their feedback shows that Redruth always seems to want more, which excites Matthew. “You can’t take away from something, but you can add to it.” With a strong and dedicated team, a passionate community, and the involvement from Ginger’s Diner, Redruth’s popular drag diner, the town is filled with potential.    

By building intersectional inclusion training, and always being aware of public safety challenges, Cornish Pride is aiming for a hate-free Cornwall. Matthew opens up about his own experiences of physical and emotional cruelty, as well as the discrimination that he has witnessed against Cornwall Pride. “It’s not about my challenges - it’s about people being hateful for absolutely no reason. It’s about people being othered.” While he knows it is never going to be easy to eradicate hatred, Matthew believes it is necessary to reach for something, and remains hopeful. “Naive positivity,” he calls it. “When you see a challenge you can either run away from it or run into it.”  

So far, Cornwall Pride’s outreach and inclusivity has been overwhelmingly successful, winning the Community Organisation Award for LGBT at the National Diversity Awards in 2024. They have brought lots of voluntary organisations together, and have partnered with a sustainable organisation called Seasalt, which sells ethical pride-T-shirts.  

Half the profits go to Pride. With a lot of companies, it is difficult to find out where it’s coming from and how ethical it is. “If we’re doing this, we have to do this the right way,” he tells me. 

“We’ve got a real opportunity here in Cornwall,” he adds, contagiously hopeful and filled with emotion. “We’re surrounded by the ocean on three sides and have the opportunity to influence ourselves. We are only 600,00 people. But if we can get this right, if we can build a culture of celebrating differences, social cohesion, support, compassion, and kindness, then maybe it will start leaking into the rest of the UK.” 

Despite witnessing the horrors of abuse towards the LGBTQ+ community, he has also seen the emergence of community groups and spaces for queer people that would have never existed in Cornwall four years ago.  

Matthew is excited that the community has built the confidence to say that they belong in Cornwall. “The minds of queer people are so beautiful because we look at the world in a non-conformist way.” If he could give any advice to his younger self, it would be: “You are looking at the world in such a beautiful way. Don’t stop.” 

This year, Redruth Pride will be falling on Saturday 5th of July in Victoria Park, and will run from 11am to 4pm.

Words
Maddie Rixon

Illustration
Saturday Simms