The importance of Pride
Cllr. Joe Porter
Pride Month is always great opportunity to celebrate love and the diversity of the LGBT+ community. When we are all treated as equals, no matter who we are or whom we love, we are all more free.
I host a weekly local LGBT+ radio show called ‘Pride in the Moorlands and Cheshire East’ on Churnet Sound Radio. On my show I often get asked about why we still need Pride and why it’s still relevant today. For me and many others, it isn’t just about rainbow flags and celebrating our hard-won rights and freedoms in the UK, but continuing the fight against oppression and advancing the rights of LGBT+ people across the world. When a survey in 2018 found that more than two thirds of British LGBT+ people avoid holding hands with their partner in public – and I have friends who have received verbal abuse on the street for holding hands – you know there is still a need for Pride.
Since the Sexual Offences Act and homosexuality was partially decriminalised in England and Wales 54 years ago, the UK has made great progress. Same-sex marriage has been introduced to every of the part of the UK, including Northern Ireland. We have also seen the Government announce a ban on conversation therapy, more gay and bisexual men are now able to donate blood, LGBT+ inclusive Relationship and Sex Education has been introduced into schools, and the possibility to change your legal gender is now allowed. We owe it to those who fought with courage and determination to make the UK a better place for LGBT+ people to spread these love, tolerance and respect across the world. Global Britain is well positioned to play a leading role internationally – our hard and soft power on the world stage should not be underestimated.
Next June, the UK will host the first ever Global LGBT Conference and will be Chaired by Lord Herbert, who was recently appointed by the Prime Minister as the UK’s Special Envoy on LGBT Rights. The Conference will provide an important global platform for the UK, as co-chair of the Equal Rights Coalition, to call for the repeal of discriminatory laws and policies against LGBT+ people and legal protection for their human rights.
In 68 countries around the world homosexuality is still criminalised and in too many places repression against LGBT+ people has worsened in recent years. Too many LGBT+ people still live in fear, with the ultimate threat of death simply for being themselves or loving who they choose to love. We must challenge at the highest level those governments which allow these injustices to continue. Guaranteeing the safety of every person in the country should be the number one duty of government, and this should include the risks to the safety and lives of LGBT+ people.
We’ve come a long way but there is much still to do. It should always be every individual person’s universal right to freely love who they want and live without fear and persecution. We cannot and should not rest until every LGBT+ person around the world has the freedom to be their true authentic self. We must work to change hearts and minds. Let’s never forget that LGBT+ success is everyone’s success, and LGBT+ rights are human rights.