Paw and I took out membership of the NT over 40 years ago do that we could traipse round beautiful old houses and gardens, enjoy superior scones and cakes in their excellent tea rooms and invariably find lovely products and other things to buy in their shops which would guarantee that the Broon But an Ben would gleam like Mentmore Towers. We also felt it was a worthy cause.
For the last few years I have made only occasional use of my membership but still regarded it as a worthwhile charitable donation even if the houses were shut much of the time.
But this latest is stretching my loyalty
The National Trust has told volunteers at an 18th century palace to don face paint and glitter to mark Pride month despite growing backlash from members over its “woke” policies. Volunteers at Ickworth in Suffolk have been encouraged to dress up in colourful clothes, wear rainbow flowers in their hair, wear multi-coloured make-up and have their face or body painted when they turn up at work on Friday.
It is part of celebrations across the National Trust, which is encouraging its properties to support Pride and says on its website that they will be “inviting the teams at our places to wear their rainbow colours ”.
It is not the first time that the charity has been criticised over its requests for staff and volunteers to wear the gay pride symbol. In 2017 it was forced to U-turn on an instruction that those working at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk who refused to wear rainbow lanyards and badges had to take on backroom roles
Now I am not pro-slavery or indeed intolerant of freedom of sexuality , but WTF (sorry, but I am cross) has this got to do with the original aims of the NT which was “established for the purpose of promoting the permanent preservation for the benefit of the nation of lands, and buildings, of beauty or historic interest and lands for the preservation so far as practical of their natural aspect features and animal and plant life.”
It certainly seems to be losing the plot.
trisher - white face paint, faint voice and a slow gait. 
TBF, it seemed some of the other guides were a bit more serious. I guess we were just unlucky!
The guide was pretending to be a 17th century plague sufferer. It was awful!
Was he covered in fake boils?
It as a she. No, her prosthetics were sadly lacking 
When the DC were young, one dread was them coming home from school with a note saying the end of year party would be fancy dress. That was before the days of nipping to the supermarket for an outfit.
Mind you, DD did get a 2nd prize once at the school fete for my efforts.
Going back to the OP eleven very interesting pages ago, the NT property at Ickworth House (not forgetting its significant openly bisexual ancestor) had asked volunteers to consider the option of wearing something brightly coloured to work on Friday 18th June to show the NT's support for Pride month, not dress up - just wear something bright. Face paint, presumably for the more adventurous, would be available if wanted. Media frenzy duly whipped up!
The historical NT properties can only be protected (I'm assuming here that we still want to do that?) by raising lots of cash. To do this you need to constantly attract new customers, some of whom might actually appreciate the 'woke' face of the NT! I always remember being told the only constant in life is change, some changes we enjoy, some not so much.
It isn't a measure of intelligence, as some PPs have implied, if you enjoy people dressed up imparting historical information. It's actually a sign of your preferred learning style and for a lot of people, such activities literally help bring history to life. I know for myself that walking into an empty unfurnished room in a castle or historic house, has nowhere near the impact of one where there are a few pieces of furniture, soft furnishings and even accessories. Perhaps that is down to my lack of imagination though and, if so, I applaud those who don't need that.
Meanwhile addressing the debate around entertwining history and politics, what I personally like to discover is the social history behind the outer facade of a place. I find the kitchens endlessly fascinating; the amount of people they had to feed, what they were fed on, how many people worked in them, what their living conditions were like, etc. But there you are, as soon as you get to the lives of the people who lived and worked in a place, you have that combination of history and politics, it is indivisible. I agree that the 'truths' we were fed in our history classes have in many cases been shown up for the whitewashing they were, history written by the victors indeed. It has been difficult to come to terms with heroes being shown to have dirty hands as well as feet of clay in some cases! Learning from history means having a clearer view of it, where we got it wrong as well as where we got it right.
As an aside, it's strange how the significance of the rainbow, happily embraced by a large majority of us supporting the NHS, displaying them in our windows, wearing badges and even t-shirts, etc. has changed in this instance. I can't help wondering, if the NT volunteers had been asked to wear something bright and been given the option of having a facepaint rainbow to show the support of NT for the NHS, would there have been the same outcry? And if not, why not?
I would say on the whole that support was absolutely pointless and in many cases not sincere magic wand, but I suppose that's a different debate.
I can't help wondering, if the NT volunteers had been asked to wear something bright and been given the option of having a facepaint rainbow to show the support of NT for the NHS, would there have been the same outcry? And if not, why not?
I don't know if you are suggesting that anyone who has said they are not in favour of the conflation between gay and glitter, or of the hijacking of Pride by the NT is homophobic, but if so, that is a serious allegation, and I don't think I have seen any posts on this thread that suggests that this is true at all.
Speaking for myself, I I see no link between feeling that the NT should stick to their remit and lack of support for the groups they say they are supporting, and yes, I would feel the same about the NT making a big deal of supporting the NHS.
The clapping and rainbows and other conspicuous support grated on me at the time, and that does not mean that I am not a fervent supporter of the NHS, just as not liking the conspicuous support of any cause is not linked to whether or not I support it.
The clapping and rainbows and other conspicuous support grated on me at the time, and that does not mean that I am not a fervent supporter of the NHS, just as not liking the conspicuous support of any cause is not linked to whether or not I support it
This x 1000. Virtue signalling is never a good look, no matter what it's for or who does it.
Pride is not just about gay men, I wish we could get past that.
theworriedwell - have you heard of 'Get the L out'?
It's well worth a Google
Well L certainly got left out on here as did BTQ and +.
Pride isn’t about glitter and face paint either.
I wish we could get past that.
With the experiences you relate, worriedwell I would have thought you would be more au fait with the problems of stereotyping and tokenism.
Have you been to a pride parade? It isn't all it's about dressing up but you can't say that pride parades don't involve people dressed up in bright colours, face paints, glitter and all sorts. LGBTQ+ is a broad church, we've heard on here that some gay men don't like it, I know gay men who do, who gets to dictate? That isn't me stereotyping anyone and I'm not sure why it would upset people so much that some LGBTQ+ people do like it. When I was working I knew a young transwoman who dressed in very bright and glamorous clothes, she'd probably love it as nothing was too bright and sparkly for her.
On this thread we have had repeated references to sons and neighbours who are gay so I don't think it is unreasonable to point out, more than once, that pride isn't just about gay men. Some gay men don't want to go to pride, that's fine, other people in LGBTQ+ might agree with them and some might not, well some won't unless pride parades have been invaded by people for who knows what reason. Gay men who don't want to present in that way are presumably quite happy to be represented by the many staff and volunteers and NT properties who are dressed more conservatively but that doesn't mean that people who you seem to dismiss as stereotypes don't want to see some reflection of their culture.
It is one month out of twelve, I've voted with my feet for other reasons, if people are so offended by a bit of face paint or glitter then maybe they should avoid pride month, they still have eleven to enjoy and from what MagicWand says it is one day. It is strange to me that one day of bright colours, glitter and face paint out of a whole year can cause such upset.
I hope NT will work to ensure their staff and volunteers welcome everyone and that everyone feels welcome. If that requires some special days then that is great, I might go back if they did a black awareness day, not sure what they'd encourage people to wear something African, Caribbean or something else. For what its worth my husband has never worn African tribal clothing, I don't think he has ever worn anything you would associate with the Caribbean, he is a very conservative dresser so he'd probably be looking on in interest with his smart trousers, shirt and blazer, he certainly wouldn't be upset because they weren't dressed like him and he might even think about dressing up for the next event.
Theworriedwell
This thread is not about Pride Parades but about the National Trust.
You seem to have more than one cause to champion - how about accessibility for the elderly and /or the physically challenged while you are at it?
I work with people with learning disabilities, I therefore often champion this cause, I would be vaguely irritated if people told me off for not championing environmental issues. People dont have to champion everything. It's not a requirement.
Callistemon
In case you did not know Slavery or any kind of forced Labour is illegal in all civilized countries including the UK.
A citizen can choose to work or not and can travel freely in most countries, communist nations and some dictatorships would be the exception. Many countries have no social security system, the UK does.
In case you did not know Slavery or any kind of forced Labour is illegal in all civilized countries including the UK.
Katie59
Funnily enough, I did know that.
It doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Perhaps I omitted to put on the link:
www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/slavery-uk/
MawBe
Theworriedwell
This thread is not about Pride Parades but about the National Trust.
You seem to have more than one cause to champion - how about accessibility for the elderly and /or the physically challenged while you are at it?
Isn't the issue with NT about their support of Pride? People keep saying gay people don't like glitter and paint.
1. Pride about more than gay men.
2. Look at a Pride parade and see where the link is i.e. LGBTQ+ people and their supporters who seem to like bright colours and dressing up.
My husband is disabled, maybe we are lucky but we have found accessibility has improved tremendously in recent years. We are both elderly and don't have any issue to raise about that.
In case you did not know Slavery or any kind of forced Labour is illegal in all civilized countries including the UK
Are you joking or just being heavily sarcastic?
Galaxy
I work with people with learning disabilities, I therefore often champion this cause, I would be vaguely irritated if people told me off for not championing environmental issues. People dont have to champion everything. It's not a requirement.
I'm retired but do "work"in a home for people with learning disabilities. It is a lovely place and a good cause to champion.
This is getting more and more irrelevant- perhaps time to draw a line?
————————————————————————-
Callistemon
^In case you did not know Slavery or any kind of forced Labour is illegal in all civilized countries including the UK.^
Katie59
Funnily enough, I did know that.
It doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Illegal forced labour happens in every country including yours, in every city and large town.
Certainly lost mine! I will not be told what to think, what to wear, what and who to support. These groups/companies seem oblivious to the fact that they are actually supporting the hate groups that they are saying they do not support lol!
You've lost me there love, what does your last sentence mean?
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