Don't miss a thing by getting the latest from the Manchester Evening News sent direct to your inbox The man who planted the first seeds for what would become Manchester’s annual Pride celebration died last Thursday (March 11) at the age of 67.
Born in Cheltenham in February 1954, Graham Giles, aka Dame Gracy, moved to Manchester as a teenager after being ostracised by his family for being gay.
After years of hardship, including a period where he lived on the streets, Graham got a flat at India House on Whitworth Street - just yards away from Manchester’s gay village - which would set in motion years of activism. “The hard days were the ones that he never forgot,” niece Michelle Gardner told the Manchester Evening News . “He committed