Coronation Street may have faced flak for being "too gay", but the soap is going to be loud and proud as it leads out the Manchester Pride parade for a second year running.
ITV bosses have confirmed they are to enter a float in this year's parade celebrating gay, lesbian and transgender culture in the city - after the success of last year's 50th anniversary of Corrie entry which went on to scoop Best Float.
And ITV has lain down the gauntlet to other entries, stating they are aiming to "win again" with another flamboyant and colourful offering into the annual parade through the streets of Manchester on Saturday, August 27.
The theme of this year's parade is "Best of British", and a host of Corrie stars are working with TV bosses on making the theme come spectacularly to life.
They include Corrie's Brooke Vincent, who plays teen lesbian Sophie Webster in the show.
She says: "I had an absolute ball last year and think it's a great chance to come together in an awesome city like Manchester and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life. It's fantastic that Coronation Street is supporting Pride yet again and I'm very proud to be portraying a lesbian character on screen. Hopefully it will go some way towards making people realise there is nothing in any way wrong with being gay. You're born who you are!"
Critic Brian Sewell sparked debate last month when he claimed that the show had too many gay characters, pointing to the show's gay couple, lesbian teens, transsexual couple and new cross-dresser.
But the show has insisted it has nothing but pride in the wealth of colourful characters that have inhabited Weatherfield over the years.
Clare Wade, second assistant director at ITV, said: "For the second year running Coronation Street and ITV are supporting Manchester Pride. It is a privilege to be the lead float in the parade again this year and it is a symbol of how we at ITV wholeheartedly and proudly support diversity not only in the workplace but everywhere."
Corrie stars Ian Puleston-Davies (Owen Armstrong), Will Thorp (Chris Gray), Samia Smith (Maria Conor), Alison King (Carla Connor) and Michelle Keegan (Tina McIntyre) have also shown their support and excitement for this year's Manchester Pride and its parade.
Jackie Crozier, festival director of Manchester Pride, said: "We are thrilled to welcome back the Corrie cast and even more excited that they are a part of ITV's first ever float in the Pride parade. The parade is one of the most 'Loud and Proud' and public parts of our festival so to have Coronation Street and ITV demonstrate such strong support as a part of this means a lot."
Manchester Pride 2010 takes place from Friday 19 - Monday 29 August and tickets for the Big Weekend (August 26 - 29) are now on sale. For more information, visit: http://www.manchesterpride.com/
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The boss at Corrie has his staff promoting his agenda, again, or face the sack ?
a minority with majority clout. Wonder how they achieve that
May God save England!
Coronation street, something to be proud of?
I think not, its left manchester stuck in the 1960's
"They include Corrie's Brooke Vincent, who plays teen lesbian Sophie Webster in the show.
She says: "I had an absolute ball last year and think it's a great chance to come together in an awesome city like Manchester and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life. It's fantastic that Coronation Street is supporting Pride yet again and I'm very proud to be portraying a lesbian character on screen. Hopefully it will go some way towards making people realise there is nothing in any way wrong with being gay. You're born who you are!"
Was that read straight from a script too!?
Oh Lord, more chaos and violence on and around Canal Street at the end of the month - can't wait!
who cares !! corries rubbish not a patch on what used to be. dragged out boring story lines and hardly any humor. sooner watch paint dry and paint some more.
Or maybe the corrie staff enjoy a great weekend and are happy to take part?!
The National Office of Statistics gives the following figures for the percentage of the population that is homosexual: 1.3% of males; 0.6% of females. Coronation Street does not seem to be a very typically British street. I wonder why?
It's a damp squib and past its sell by date. The two actresses pictured are not even in the telly prog anymore!
Last years was notably reduced in size (according to the M.E.N.).
Frankly nobody cares.
When is the straight parade ?
PRIDE/SNIDE. Load of C**P.
To be charged £15, or £25+ to walk round Canal Street is disgusting. Then you can't get into any bars to even get a drink, unless of course you are a Z-List "CELEB". Anthony Camp Cotton, & Brooke "Who" Vincent??
Absolute RIP OFF! R.I.P Pride. BORING!
The "Pride" festival has nothing to do with LGBT and gives less about 8% of it's income to "Charity", although half of that goes to things like Gaydio (radio station) and the LGF;
Only 4% actually goes to HIV Charities. Check out the accounts on either Companies House website or the Charities Commission.
This "festival" is more about money, commercialism and greed than it is about promoting equality or raising money for charity. Even the council charges the pride festival more money than it donates. Oh and charging for entry to a public highway: do I hear the word ILLEGAL?
The fact that fewer and fewer LGBT charities join the parade each year should be a clear message as to what this really is.
would be better off watching mothers pride.
IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, THEN DON'T GO! Why is everybody moaning so much.
At the end of the day if loads of people want to dress in bright colours, wear too much make up and dance around, and people are stupid enough to pay it.. then whats the problem?
I say fair play to them, if they're making money out of it every year and people are STILL going and having fun together then Bonus!
People go to football matches all the time.. how much money do they give for HIV?! all you humbugs just seriously get a hobby and stop pasting negativity over the internet, it's filled with enough as it is!