Big Issue vendor Amanda was a big hit at Pride Cymru

Vendor Amanda Hill was such a big hit when she sold The Big Issue at Pride Cymru last month that she was signing autographs.

Cardiff seller Amanda, 40, sold 54 magazines during her stint at the annual LGBT celebration in the city and even had customers clamouring for her signature after they spotted her featured in the My Pitch section of the magazine.

Meet Amanda, who is selling the magazine at this week's Pride Cymru https://t.co/x4K2clJr6s

— The Big Issue Cymru (@BigIssueCymru) August 23, 2018

“I had a really good time at Pride,” she said. “I had a good reaction mostly and managed to sell a lot of people came up to me and told me that they hoped that my luck would improve going forward and quite a few came up to me and told me that they had actually been homeless themselves.

“When people spotted my face in the magazine they were asking for my autograph so it was a big help that I was in the magazine beforehand.”

Amanda, who has been selling outside Subway on Duke Street in the Welsh capital since earlier this year, identifies as pansexual and is a regular at the event in support of LGBT members of her family.

But this is the first time she has donned the iconic red tabard while attending.

Selling The Big Issue has helped Amanda to get back on her feet this year as she has managed to use her proceeds from the magazine to get herself into a temporary accommodation where she also acts as a carer for her husband.

“It was great to be around people who are also celebrating LGBT, that’s why I go to the event every year anyway,” she added.

“I may be married to a man, but I am pansexual and how I feel is that if you love someone it doesn’t matter about their sex or gender, it’s about who the person is on the inside.”

Image: David Wagstaffe