29/05/2026
As we tip over into June - which is Pride Month btw - and the celebrations start to begin across the country this weekend, it’s important to reflect on what it means and why it exists…🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Pride isn’t a party because being q***r is “trendy” or “woke.” Pride exists because people like me grew up being told our existence was wrong, dangerous, shameful, sinful, illegal, or something to hide.
As a q***r person, I don’t celebrate Pride because my life has been easy. I celebrate because people before me fought for the right for me just to have an open existence. In the UK, being gay between men was literally illegal until 1967. People lost jobs, families, homes, safety, and freedom simply for loving someone.
Even after partial decriminalisation:
• The government introduced Section 28 in 1988, banning the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. An entire generation grew up in silence and shame because teachers were afraid to even acknowledge LGBTQ+ people existed.
• The age of consent for gay men wasn’t equalised until 2001.
• Same-sex couples only gained civil partnerships in 2004.
• Same-sex marriage only became legal in England, Wales, and Scotland in 2014.
• Trans people only gained legal recognition through the Gender Recognition Act in 2004 — and even now, trans rights particularly remain under constant attack.
That history isn’t ancient. I lived through a lot of it. Many still do.
Pride is what happens when people who were told to disappear choose visibility anyway. It’s Mourning. Protest. Celebration. Survival. Community. It’s saying: “We are still here.”
One question that is often banded about is: “Why isn’t there Straight Pride?”
Firstly, if you want one, arrange it. No judgement huns! 🥰 However there’s probably a good reason that straight pride doesn’t exist - it’s pretty simple - it’s about ‘need.’ Straight people were never criminalised for being straight. Never told their love was illegal. Never banned from discussing their identity in schools. Never denied marriage because of who they loved. Never had to fight simply to exist openly and likely never had to go through the crippling anxieties and torture of having to ‘come out’ as straight in a world where your identity is a minority. Trust me when I say that the process of having to mask your true self during your developmental years is very damaging - the effects last a lifetime.
Pride isn’t about saying q***r people are any better. It’s about recognising that q***r people had to fight for rights that others were simply born with. We’re not trying to take over the world here - we just want to exist peacefully.
When you’ve not had to live this life it’s hard to comprehend, I understand that - but if you take the time to listen, learn and broaden your understanding you may find some level of empathy and hopefully even allyship! That being said we don’t have to agree either, but we can respect each others right to exist without hate.
Lastly, when people may question if being q***r is a choice…ask yourself, why would you really choose to be subjected to all of the above?!
When equality has never been equal, visibility matters!! Every type of community faces their individual challenges, these are just ours. Remember that you can’t be what you can’t see…🏳️🌈
