Celebrating intersectionality during Pride Month and beyond

Pride Month: A personal reflection

The weather on 1 July 1972 was not exceptional for the UK. A relatively mild summer’s day, with some rain early on, but mostly dry – typical British weather. What was unprecedented was the crowd that paraded from where they had gathered, in Hyde Park, to Trafalgar Square. Organisations including the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) and the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) were present, along with many independent protesters. Whilst there are no definitive records of the numbers participating – I’ve found estimates of 2,000 – their presence is significant for it being the first recorded Pride parade in the UK.

According to the Independent, London Pride 2022 (scheduled for 2 July) has received 40,000 applications - to date. Back in 1972, 1 July was chosen as the closest Saturday to the third anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York, in 1969, when the police raided Stonewall Inn, an LGBT-friendly space in New York, and the second anniversary of the Christopher Street Liberation Day celebration, along the street on which the Stonewall Inn is located, that first took place on 28 June 1970. It was that parade which has established the basic framework for Pride as we have come to know it.

Pride needs to be, in my view, a curious critter. Curious in that it is a celebration, a provocation, and a protest. The party side of Pride is an important aspect of what gives it life and vitality. The colours, sounds, and rhythms of Pride resonate with the diversity and overt intersectionality of what it is to be part of the LGBTQIA+ family. The disruption of being loud and proud in public space challenges and confronts the routines of daily life in a manner that is affirmative and uplifting.

Intersectionality is at the heart of LGBTQIA+ activism. It was there at the uprising outside the Stonewall Inn in 1969, there in the establishment of the Christopher Street Liberation Day parades in 1970 and can be seen in the rainbow flag we associate with the community and with the Pride parade. It was people of colour and members of the Trans community that lay at the very foundations of Queer activism and Pride, and it is from being an intersectional community that we gain strength today. 

Pride is an action not a thing. It does, as they say, what it says on the tin; Pride is about being proud of who you are, in all your complexity, nuance, and intersectionality – being, and giving voice, to your own, authentic, self.

In the fifty years since 2,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square in the name of LGBTQIA+ rights, and the freedom to express who we truly are, think about how much has been achieved. It is easy to see the success of numerous campaigns for LGBTQIA+ rights and freedoms and assume that there is little left to do; sadly, that is a long way from the truth. Misrepresentation and mis-information in regard to the Trans community abounds across multiple mainstream media. We have seen a massive increase in hate crime against the LGBTQIA+ community.

Data on mental health and suicide, for that community - across all ages - suggest that the numbers are some of the highest they have ever been - and increasing. In many countries, where hard won legal freedoms have been granted, we are seeing many of them being contested and, in some cases, eroded. At the same time we see important legislation, around such issues as the banning of ‘conversion therapy’, being delayed and obfuscated in rhetoric that is damaging to the lives that such legislation would protect.

Pride Month is an important time for the LGBTQIA+ family. We, as a HE institution, have an important role to play in the debates that affect that community. Equality, diversity, and inclusion are a cornerstone of who we are and what we do. It is vital that we celebrate the diversity of our university community. So, as Pride Month draws to a close, and we look forward to Leeds Pride on 7 August, let us reflect on the ways intersectionality enriches us all, and challenge ourselves to think about what we can do to be more inclusive.