The roll back of LGBTQ+ rights means Pride is more important than ever

Pride is a time for us to celebrate and to remind ourselves of the courage, hope and unity that has got us here today. Although times have always been turbulent for the LGBTQ+ community, this year definitely feels different to recent years. We enter Pride season facing a roll back of LGBTQ+ rights across the world. Our hard-won rights feel more fragile. 

Few people would have expected the new US administration to act so quickly once in power and release a series of Executive Orders. Then followed the Supreme Court ruling and the widespread concerns about the implications of this. 

The UK has dropped sharply in ILGA-Europe’s LGBTQ+ rankings and London has lost its AAA status in the Open for Business’s latest city rankings. Following local elections, some organisations are refusing to fly the Pride flag. Amidst all this, we know people are feeling emboldened to express prejudice against our communities, much of which is especially targeted at the trans+ community. 

From the invisible past to the visible present 

My first Pride event was over 30 years ago. It was very definitely a protest. Section 28 was still on the statute, the age of consent had just been reduced from 21 to 18 years, civil partnerships and equal marriage felt out of reach. LGBT people were unable to serve in the army, stigma (including HIV stigma) was rife. Homophobia and other forms of prejudice were an everyday reality, and family estrangement even more common than it is today.  

Fewer people asked why Pride was needed, because they were too busy saying they didn't mind gay people as long as we didn't “force it down people's throats.” Back then, there was little corporate visibility or support for Pride. 

Like all good movements, Pride and other LGBTQ+ events have changed and evolved. There are more in number, including local Prides in communities up and down the country. Events reflect the diversity of our communities – including UK Black Pride, Trans Pride, Bi-Pride, Student Pride, Out and Wild Festival and Pride in Wellness to name a few. They are moments of visibility, celebration and joy - as laws are changed and culture progresses, as well as moments of protest and hope for an equal future. 

Controversially to some, Pride events have had much more corporate support in recent decades. Many organisations have embraced the evident benefits of inclusion brings. I have generally welcomed more corporate engagement in Pride as a sign of progress, as long as it is authentic and an amplification of year-round support, rather a performative month-long flag wave.  

Pride - more important than ever this year 

As time has gone on and rights have been won, more and more people have asked if we really need Pride anymore.   

This year, the need for Pride feels more urgent, more palpable and more intense because there is a global push back on LGBTQ+ rights generally. 

Trans + people – and we, their friends, families, neighbours and colleagues - are increasingly worried about their rights, freedoms and protections as they continue to be demonised and dehumanised. Our hard-won rights, just like other rights such as reproductive and abortion rights, feel more fragile. 

Pride season can be many things. Pride is about a celebration of who we are and what has been achieved. It is about protecting the laws, policies and positive social change that people have worked for in recent decades.  

It must equally focus on the change we want to see – including a ban on conversion practices and making anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime an aggravated offence. We need a legislative framework that protects the dignity and human rights of everyone, and there must be significant improvements in access to healthcare. We need our political leaders to ensure all LGBTQ+ people can live in dignity, free from prejudice and harm.    

A time for unity and building alliances 

Pride season is also a time for us to build unity across the movement.  

Although we have so much in common, too often as a community we focus on what divides us. We will not agree on everything, but in a world where some people want to remove our rights and make civic participation more difficult, we can agree on this: the rights of LGBTQ+ people and other marginalised communities are human rights, and those rights are under threat here in the UK and across the world.   

And while our politics, our activism and our spheres of influence may be different, we will only be able to resist the rollback of rights and keep driving for progress if we find common ground and act together with courage, and unity.   

To make progress we need to build alliances with other marginalised communities, work in constructive partnership with political and organisational leaders and have courage and tenacity all year round.  

I hope this Pride season brings us all some joy and carves out a space where we can be our authentic selves and let in the light. And in doing so, provide the hope, energy and fuel to keep on driving for the equality every single member of the LGBTQ+ community deserves.  

I am an eternal optimist. I firmly believe that, if we stand together, we can achieve our shared goal of LGBTQ+ equality.  

At Stonewall we will not stop until that hope becomes a reality.