Why Pride is a celebration, a movement and an ongoing protest
During June the Pride flag flies over Three Rivers House, the headquarters of Three Rivers District Council, in Rickmansworth. The flying of this flag is linked back to 1 July 1972, when the UK’s first Pride march was held in London. This date was chosen as the nearest Saturday to the anniversary of the riots, or uprising, at the Stonewall Inn in 1969, where LGBT+ patrons had been targeted by the New York Police Department. Pride marches have since become annual events throughout the UK and around the world.
To mark Pride Month Tyson Martin, Chair of Herts Pride Society, writes about what Pride means to him.
The Pride movement continues to highlight the persecution and injustices that many LGBT+ people continue to experience across the world. In the UK we have come a long way in LGBT+ equality such as protected rights in the workplace, service delivery and same sex marriage though unfortunately we do continue to face discrimination, prejudice, harassment here in the UK and in some countries we are seeing people who identify as LGBTQ+ being imprisoned or killed, just for being who they are and the person they love.
Pride month is important as it is an education in LGBTQ+ history and raising awareness of issues that continue to affect the lives of the LGBTQ+ community across the globe. We see many countries during the month of June and throughout the year holding amazing Pride events celebrating the LGBTQ+ communities and though some of these events have a party vibe and are fun they are still a protest.
To me personally celebrating Pride month is about all people coming together to embrace and celebrate diversity. And with many organisations and companies proactively engaged in being involved in Pride month. It affirms to me of their commitment to make a difference in the workplace for their staff and customers from the LCBTQ+ community who are be able to be themselves without fear of hatred and persecution. In Hertfordshire, I organise Herts Pride which takes place one day in August, I have been involved in running this event since 2013 through Hertfordshire Pride Society.
As I have said earlier, we do unfortunately continue to see discrimination and prejudice against LGBT+ community, and we will continue to fight for equality and acceptance, and we are seeing that the social attitudes are changing for the good, but there is still along way to go!
Three Rivers District Council sponsors Herts Pride, a non-profit organisation run exclusively by volunteers to help support the local and national LGBTQ+ community. Herts Pride 2023 takes place on 19 August at Cassiobury Park, Watford.
Find out more here: https://www.hertspride.org/