Pride Month

Pride month is here both in the UK and USA. Let’s go back into some history of Pride. Pride Month in the USA begins on 1st June. Pride Month marks the anniversary of the Stonewall riots for gay liberation that took place on 28th June 1969.

The riots began after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar located in lower Manhattan in New York City. The raid at the Stonewall Inn was a direct homophobia attack by the state police and this was a turning point in the visibility of the gay movement. Our queer and LGBT+ ancestors like Marsha P Johnson an American gay liberation and self-directed drag queen, and Sylvia Rivera an American gay liberation and transgender activist were veterans at the riot. The gay movement in America did not accept transgender people and they were discouraged from participating. In 1970, Johnson and Rivera founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), “an organization dedicated to sheltering young transgender individuals who were shunned by their families”. The two also began STAR House, a place where transgender youth could stay and feel safe.

It was not till 1973 Sylvia Rivera was allowed to attend the gay pride parade but not speak, she grabbed the mike and fiercely said:

“If it wasn’t for the drag queen, there would be no gay liberation movement. We’re the front-liners”.

She was booed off the stage. How her words also speak to the present moment in the USA where in some states it has become illegal to stage a drag show. And in some areas of the LGB community in the UK it is still not safe to be transgender.

In the USA it was not till 1980 when The Democratic Rules Committee states that it will not discriminate against homosexuals. At their National Convention on August 11-14, the Democrats become the first major political party to endorse a homosexual rights platform. It was not until 1987 did homosexuality completely fall out of the DSM list of being a mental disorder.

In the UK Homosexuality remained illegal until 1967 in England and Wales and 1980 in Scotland.

The UK pride month starts on 1st July 1972 with the Pride March in London. It happens on the closest Saturday to the anniversary of the Stonewall riots that happened in the USA. The UK key organisers of the first Pride were Peter Tatchell and the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. The aim of the Pride march was to show that as a community we were proud and not ashamed, determined to come out of shadows and stand up for our rights. They wanted to make themselves visible and demand LGBT liberation.

I am pleased that my first pride aged 17 was still at a time when the LGBT+ community was more connected.

Those living with AIDS or HIV had just started getting HIV medication that worked so the numbers dying lessened and there was more to fight for. I believe Pride and Pride month still allows the LGBT+ community a chance to be visible, still stand up for LGBT+ human rights and be proud of how far we have come.

At school we didn’t have inclusive LGBTQ+ education, as with the section 28 of the Local Government Act (1988) was in place and we were far from having equal rights. This did tremendous damage and did a disservice to our LGBT community and LGBT teachers. In 1992 The World Health Organisation declassified it as a mental illness. Like many fellow LGBTQ+ community I grew up with a sense it was not okay to be me. I did not have laws to protect me and did not have many LGBTQ+ role models in the wider world or in the public eye and in terms of LGBTQ+ support organisations there were very few.

I have now been out for more than half my lifetime so the excitement I had for pride has shifted as I have got older.

Coming out is an ongoing process that changes as our relationship with our gender identity, sexuality, whom we are in relationships with those around us and sense of self shifts with time. Attending Pride was an important part of both my gender and sexuality journeys. Finding out more about our queer history and LGBT ancestors was important to me when I came out the first time as queer at aged 17.

I remember how excited I was aged 17 to read and understand that there were generations before us, even that some our LGBT+ community were trail blazers and did some of the important things in history, and that I was part of something bigger, a larger community which gave me hope that a better tomorrow will come.

The Human Dignity Trust released a report to let us know about LGBT+ human rights and lack of protection across the globe. Yes, things are not great in the UK, but at least we have some protections still. They speak to why it is important as to celebrate Pride and hold in our minds those that can’t:

“66 jurisdictions criminalise private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity. The majority of these jurisdictions explicitly criminalise sex between men via ‘sodomy’, ‘buggery’ and ‘unnatural offences’ laws. Almost half of them are Commonwealth jurisdictions”.

“41 countries criminalise private, consensual sexual activity between women using laws against ‘lesbianism’, ‘sexual relations with a person of the same sex’ and ‘gross indecency’. Even in jurisdictions that do not explicitly criminalise women, lesbians and bisexual women have been subjected to arrest or threat of arrest”.

“12 countries have jurisdictions in which the death penalty is imposed or at least a possibility for private, consensual same-sex sexual activity. At least 6 of these implement the death penalty – Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen – and the death penalty is a legal possibility in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE and Uganda”.

14 countries criminalise the gender identity and/or expression of transgender people, using so-called ‘cross-dressing’, ‘impersonation’ and ‘disguise’ laws. In many more countries transgender people are targeted by a range of laws that criminalise same-sex activity and vagrancy, hooliganism and public order offences.

(Human Dignity Trust)

I believe it is time to put the politics back into Pride, as having safety is a privilege.

As we all know gender diverse humans still face systemic barriers and discrimination. As an LGBT+ community we all face the question of how safe is the world around us and that still affects our sense of identity, and you just need to look at LGBT statistics as they speak for themselves.

We need allies that speak up and fight for our rights. We need you all year round not just to rock up at pride and party with us once a year.

We have come a long way with LGBT+ rights, we still have a long way to go!