Introducing Pride month

Whilst I still thought about Pride, and its importance, how I prepared for it, especially participating in the parade, had become predictable.

Back in 1970, when Craig Rodwell, Fred Sargent, Ellen Broidy and Linda Rhodes instigated the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, in recognition of the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, there was nothing routine about what they did.

COVID-19, lockdown, social distancing, are all impacting so many aspects of what we took for granted in our daily lives. This pandemic has forced us into reassessing what we do and how we do it, exposing patterns in our behaviour we had lost the ability to recognise. As such, it is providing us with an opportunity to reconsider those routines and rethink them, revitalising our approach and our actions.

Alongside the pain and sadness it has brought, it has allowed us to create new ways of thinking and doing. The way we mark Pride month this year will be very different from any other, yet the act of celebrating our LGBT+ history and heritage remains vital.

It is still of fundamental importance that we, as a community, continue to confront discrimination, violence and hatred, however it is expressed. Through its party atmosphere, colour, outfits, dancing, music, it has been a joyous celebration of our community.

However we mark Pride this year, it must remain a celebratory protest.