Op-ed: why it’s important to have, mark, and celebrate Pride

On June 28th fifty-four years ago, what became the modern pride movement was born.

Let us not sugarcoat or pink wash our history...Pride started with a riot.

Lesbian, gay bisexual and yes, transgender people 54 years ago in a small bar, The Stonewall Inn, New York City had had enough. Enough of being dragged into the back of police vans without explanation, of arrests and held without charge, of nightly raids of their bars, cafes, community spaces and sigh, bookshops.

Such police activity was not limited to the United States of America.?

1967 is often quoted as a landmark date in LGBT history in the United Kingdom. But this was only the?partial?decriminalisation of homosexuality, where homosexual acts between consenting partners were allowed in a private home. The definition of a private home was often left to the arresting officers, or if the case went to court, the presiding judge. With apartment blocks sometimes not considered to be a private home as there are many residents all under one roof.

My dear friend, Michael (now 82 years old), was in the 1970s arrested many times and spent a period of time in prison for solicitation. He was actually just waiting for a friend. He has since lived his entire life in the UK with a criminal record on account of being gay.

I am proud to say, that upon receiving a letter from David Cameron pardoning him of his crimes, he sent it back along with a note describing to the Prime Minister exactly where he could shove his pardon.?

And so the 28th of June is a significant date in the LGBTQ calendar.

We commemorate and we celebrate those queers and Queens, who fought back for all of us. Three days of rioting and then one year later all over the western world commemorative gay rights marches began. This is why many pride events in 2023 sit at either weekend around this landmark date.?

So why continue to celebrate? after all isn’t everything all right now??

Take a look at anti-LGBT legislation around the world, where people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender can be put into prison for life, and in too many cases sentenced to death. It would be culturally insensitive of me to list those countries here, but do your homework and look them up.

And whilst you’re at it, have a gander at what is happening to LGBT rights state by state in the USA.?

But we do not need to stray any further than the boundaries of these islands to see how LGBTQ people are treated within our own communities.

In February of this year, Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old transgender girl from Warrington in Cheshire, was murdered whilst walking through a park by two teenagers from her local area. Billboards advertising Bristol Pride events for summer ‘23 were set alight within 24 hours of their posting.

And speaking of landmark dates, May 13th 2023 for me marked the first whole year where I have not experienced violent language, threats of or actual physical violence from strangers in the street in broad daylight. All on account of my sexual orientation and identity. I have been punched in the stomach, spat in my face and been called countless offensive names, accompanied by sexually explicit and aggressive language...right in the middle of fancy, London town.

I do not share these stories for sympathy, I’ve got it covered. But if these are my experiences as a tough, weathered, 50-something, what are those of our LGBTQ young people? The reasons why one in four LGBTQ people under the age of 25 self-harms suddenly becomes clear.?

Pride is a little bit like football and driving. Everybody’s got an opinion, including comments such as "I don’t mind them but why did they have to dress like that" or "it’s fine to be gay but why do you need to tell everybody?"

Here goes: I have an array of T-shirts which some may describe as offensive. Every time I have been verbally assaulted in the street I have had the insults printed onto T-shirts and I wear them around town with pride. If I have to listen to it, you’ll have to look at it: I do not exist on this planet by myself and yes I will be wearing one of them this weekend. I also intend for the rest of my outfit to be as queer and celebratory queenlike as I have the physical energy to manage for 12 hours straight...six-inch heels are hard work.?

I will close with the words of Jackie Goldberg this week. A Los Angeles lesbian school board president (equivalent to the Chair of Governors) responding to the banning of books with LGBTQ content, sweeping the USA in 2023?

“I have been confronting this issue my entire life, I’ve been threatened, I have been harassed, I have been denied jobs because of who I am and who I love. You don’t have to love me, you don’t have to like me, you can think I’m the devil incarnate, but you better treat me like a decent human being because that’s how I treat you, even though you don’t believe that I have the right to exist…?

“I want to be very, very, very clear,”?she said.?“Nobody has to accept me, I’m not looking for your acceptance, but you better treat me the same way you treat everybody else”.?

I wish you all a glorious Pride...full of protest and celebration in equal measure.?

Craig Hanlon-Smith, Vice Principal for Student Engagement and Centre Principal for the North Kensington Centre for Skills Morley College London

#LGBTQ #loveourcolleges #pridemonth #pridemonth2023 #london #newyorkcity #stonewall