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Whether LGBT+ or straight, "you have a duty" to attend Pride in 2017 - and in 2019 too! |
Whether LGBT+ or straight, "you have a duty" to attend Pride in 2017 - and in 2019 too! Says Steve Taylor
Weymouth Gay Group may or may not agree with the comments below, but we thought it was well worth posting them here for your consideration. Steve's comments below were written in 2017, but still raise valuable points today.
From http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/steve-taylor1/pride-2017_b_14025294.html
Steve Taylor Co-Chair of UK Pride Organisers Network, Board member European Pride Organisers Association, Deputy Director Pride in London. His own views.
As the LGBT+ community prepares to spend the summer celebrating and commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, I can hear our detractors already: isn’t it time ‘they’ stopped going on about it? Why do they have to ram it down our throats? Why isn’t there a straight pride?
After all, ‘we’ can adopt children, get married, have sex at 16 the same as heterosexuals, and join the armed forces. We can’t be fired for our sexuality. Many of our children’s schools have moved so far from Section 28 - a Thatcherite relic that prevented the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality to schoolchildren - that they now have LGBT+ groups. Hell, television adverts for high street banks now include same sex couples. So, job done. Let’s put the sequins away, stop ramming things down people’s throats, and get on with life. Yes?
No. Because anti-LGBT+ hate crime is on the increase in the UK, including in supposedly accepting major cities. Trans people are still subject to the spousal veto. If you’re bisexual, you’ll face daily derision and abuse for being ‘greedy’ or ‘confused’. Same-sex marriage is illegal in Northern Ireland. Various surveys report a huge majority of LGBT+ young people experiencing bullying at school. LGBT+ people are far more likely to have mental health conditions. Two-thirds of LGBT+ people say there’s a problem with homophobia in sport.
Things are no better internationally. Almost half of the world’s population - 45%, or 3.7 billion people - live in the 76 countries where homosexual acts are illegal. That’s more than four times the population of Europe. And 649 million people live in countries where homosexual acts can and do lead to the death penalty.
That ten times the population of the UK live in countries where being LGBT+ can attract the death penalty and more than five times that number live in countries where it’s illegal is the reason why Pride still exists. Many of the ninety Prides in the UK will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of decriminalisation, but all will take place in a show of solidarity for the billions of people who cannot live their lives freely, sticking two fingers up to the 70-odd countries who oppress them.
Today the UK Pride Organisers Network, which represents Pride organisations across the UK, launches a new film to promote Pride events the length and breadth of the country. Eighty-two Prides are included in the film, including Prides taking place for the first time in Bury, Harrogate, Kirkcaldy, Mold, the Isle of Wight, Eastbourne, Hereford, Worcester and Bridgwater.
And it’s broader than just the UK: as many as three million people are expected to descend on Madrid in June for World Pride, only the third time this major international event has taken place in Europe. Worldwide, according to Pride Radar, there are more than 950 Pride events, with many more being added each year. Of course, most of these are in countries where LGBT+ equality is much advanced, but that doesn’t stop activists in cities like Kampala, Uganda, from courageously pressing ahead with Pride events.
For me, that’s what Pride’s about. In 2015, I attended Pride in Riga, Latvia, where the streets were lined with homophobes but their numbers were exceeded by deeply threatening and unwelcoming riot police. Last year, at Pride in Vilnius, Lithuania, my photograph was taken by a well known homophobic activist who was going to add me to his online database of ‘sexual predators’. Later this month, with my colleagues from the board of the European Pride Organisers Association, we’ll meet LGBT+ activists in the Balkans to discuss how we can support their Pride events.
For many people, Pride is an excuse for a massive party. And there’s nothing wrong with that; Pride doesn’t belong to any one of us and we can all make it what we want it to be. But as the ascendant far right makes the world a less accepting and tolerant place, the importance of Pride can’t be understated. To people in Uganda, nervously reading LGBT+ news online, the significance of seeing 30,000 people march past the Ugandan embassy in Trafalgar Square cannot be understated. And that’s the same as for a teenager in their bedroom somewhere in the UK, reading about Pride on their smartphone and finding it gives them the confidence, the sense of freedom and liberty, to be able to tell their friends that they’re L, G, B, T or something else.
So whether you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or one of the many sexualities and gender identities unhelpfully lumped under the ‘+’ symbol, you should come to Pride in 2017. Come to celebrate, and to party. Come to show support for the millions of young people unsure of their sexuality. Come to support the hundreds of campaigning organisations and charities in the parades and running stalls. Come to show solidarity with the billions of people worldwide who don’t enjoy the freedoms you do.
And if you’re straight, you should come too. Come to support your colleagues, friends, your children and wider family. Come to show you’re not homophobic; in today’s society that’s once again something to celebrate, after all. But above all, come because you can. Come to show that there’s no need for straight pride because Pride is your Pride.
All should come to say that, 50 years on, we recognise there has been huge progress but we can’t exist in isolation and we all have a responsibility to everyone, everywhere.
In fact, you know what? You don’t have a choice to come to Pride this year. You have a duty.
Follow Steve Taylor on Twitter: www.twitter.com/danophile
If you have any comments about the above artical, we are happy to print them here, and give Steve Taylor an opportunity to respond.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************
Weymouth Gay Group may or may not agree with the comments below, but we thought it was well worth posting them here for your consideration. Steve's comments below were written in 2017, but still raise valuable points today.
From http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/steve-taylor1/pride-2017_b_14025294.html
Steve Taylor Co-Chair of UK Pride Organisers Network, Board member European Pride Organisers Association, Deputy Director Pride in London. His own views.
As the LGBT+ community prepares to spend the summer celebrating and commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, I can hear our detractors already: isn’t it time ‘they’ stopped going on about it? Why do they have to ram it down our throats? Why isn’t there a straight pride?
After all, ‘we’ can adopt children, get married, have sex at 16 the same as heterosexuals, and join the armed forces. We can’t be fired for our sexuality. Many of our children’s schools have moved so far from Section 28 - a Thatcherite relic that prevented the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality to schoolchildren - that they now have LGBT+ groups. Hell, television adverts for high street banks now include same sex couples. So, job done. Let’s put the sequins away, stop ramming things down people’s throats, and get on with life. Yes?
No. Because anti-LGBT+ hate crime is on the increase in the UK, including in supposedly accepting major cities. Trans people are still subject to the spousal veto. If you’re bisexual, you’ll face daily derision and abuse for being ‘greedy’ or ‘confused’. Same-sex marriage is illegal in Northern Ireland. Various surveys report a huge majority of LGBT+ young people experiencing bullying at school. LGBT+ people are far more likely to have mental health conditions. Two-thirds of LGBT+ people say there’s a problem with homophobia in sport.
Things are no better internationally. Almost half of the world’s population - 45%, or 3.7 billion people - live in the 76 countries where homosexual acts are illegal. That’s more than four times the population of Europe. And 649 million people live in countries where homosexual acts can and do lead to the death penalty.
That ten times the population of the UK live in countries where being LGBT+ can attract the death penalty and more than five times that number live in countries where it’s illegal is the reason why Pride still exists. Many of the ninety Prides in the UK will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of decriminalisation, but all will take place in a show of solidarity for the billions of people who cannot live their lives freely, sticking two fingers up to the 70-odd countries who oppress them.
Today the UK Pride Organisers Network, which represents Pride organisations across the UK, launches a new film to promote Pride events the length and breadth of the country. Eighty-two Prides are included in the film, including Prides taking place for the first time in Bury, Harrogate, Kirkcaldy, Mold, the Isle of Wight, Eastbourne, Hereford, Worcester and Bridgwater.
And it’s broader than just the UK: as many as three million people are expected to descend on Madrid in June for World Pride, only the third time this major international event has taken place in Europe. Worldwide, according to Pride Radar, there are more than 950 Pride events, with many more being added each year. Of course, most of these are in countries where LGBT+ equality is much advanced, but that doesn’t stop activists in cities like Kampala, Uganda, from courageously pressing ahead with Pride events.
For me, that’s what Pride’s about. In 2015, I attended Pride in Riga, Latvia, where the streets were lined with homophobes but their numbers were exceeded by deeply threatening and unwelcoming riot police. Last year, at Pride in Vilnius, Lithuania, my photograph was taken by a well known homophobic activist who was going to add me to his online database of ‘sexual predators’. Later this month, with my colleagues from the board of the European Pride Organisers Association, we’ll meet LGBT+ activists in the Balkans to discuss how we can support their Pride events.
For many people, Pride is an excuse for a massive party. And there’s nothing wrong with that; Pride doesn’t belong to any one of us and we can all make it what we want it to be. But as the ascendant far right makes the world a less accepting and tolerant place, the importance of Pride can’t be understated. To people in Uganda, nervously reading LGBT+ news online, the significance of seeing 30,000 people march past the Ugandan embassy in Trafalgar Square cannot be understated. And that’s the same as for a teenager in their bedroom somewhere in the UK, reading about Pride on their smartphone and finding it gives them the confidence, the sense of freedom and liberty, to be able to tell their friends that they’re L, G, B, T or something else.
So whether you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or one of the many sexualities and gender identities unhelpfully lumped under the ‘+’ symbol, you should come to Pride in 2017. Come to celebrate, and to party. Come to show support for the millions of young people unsure of their sexuality. Come to support the hundreds of campaigning organisations and charities in the parades and running stalls. Come to show solidarity with the billions of people worldwide who don’t enjoy the freedoms you do.
And if you’re straight, you should come too. Come to support your colleagues, friends, your children and wider family. Come to show you’re not homophobic; in today’s society that’s once again something to celebrate, after all. But above all, come because you can. Come to show that there’s no need for straight pride because Pride is your Pride.
All should come to say that, 50 years on, we recognise there has been huge progress but we can’t exist in isolation and we all have a responsibility to everyone, everywhere.
In fact, you know what? You don’t have a choice to come to Pride this year. You have a duty.
Follow Steve Taylor on Twitter: www.twitter.com/danophile
If you have any comments about the above artical, we are happy to print them here, and give Steve Taylor an opportunity to respond.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************
A common question often asked "Why do we have Pride events?
Here is an excellent article from Exmouth Pride on this subject. (posted here 18/06/2019)
Why Do We Have Exmouth Pride?
Exmouth Pride is a great fun day. But there is a serious message behind the music and partying. That message is that LGBT+ people are as loving, as wonderfully diverse and as much a part of our society as anybody else. But not everybody thinks so. Even here in Britain we have some people demanding that children should not be taught in school that gay people actually exist. And we live in a world where some countries would execute you – even stone you to death – simply for being gay.
Those illogical ideas and attitudes need to be challenged and changed. We are lucky in Britain that we have the support of Parliament and our legal system for improving the lives and the rights of the LGBT+ community. Back in July 2017, the government launched a survey to try to understand more fully the lives and experiences of LGBT+ people in the UK. More than 108,000 people took part – making it the largest national survey of LBGT+ people in the world to date.
The results made sobering reading.
“We want to build a country that works for everyone and that means tackling these burning issues.”
On the positive side, it seems that attitudes are changing with younger people more likely to identify as Lesbian Gay or Bisexual. In 2016 the Office for National Statistics estimated that 2% of the UK population identified that way. The proportion was higher for younger people (4.1% of 16-24 year-olds and 2.9% of 25-34 year olds) than older people (0.7% of those aged 65 and over). These figures were for sexual orientation only and not for gender identity.
And so the fight continues. Being gay in the UK was only partially decriminalized in 1968. Other battles, for an equal age of consent, for civil partnerships and then gay marriage were long and hard fought. Gradually here battles are being won. That said, we know it’s not changing for the better everywhere and that in countries such as Brunei, Syria and Russia you can lose your job, your home or even your life if you are part of the LGBT+ community. Exmouth Pride is for LGBT+ people and their friends and families to celebrate diversity together. We would be delighted if you would join us in that celebration.
You can read more about Exmouth Pride on their website here - https://www.exmouthpride.co.uk/
Here is an excellent article from Exmouth Pride on this subject. (posted here 18/06/2019)
Why Do We Have Exmouth Pride?
Exmouth Pride is a great fun day. But there is a serious message behind the music and partying. That message is that LGBT+ people are as loving, as wonderfully diverse and as much a part of our society as anybody else. But not everybody thinks so. Even here in Britain we have some people demanding that children should not be taught in school that gay people actually exist. And we live in a world where some countries would execute you – even stone you to death – simply for being gay.
Those illogical ideas and attitudes need to be challenged and changed. We are lucky in Britain that we have the support of Parliament and our legal system for improving the lives and the rights of the LGBT+ community. Back in July 2017, the government launched a survey to try to understand more fully the lives and experiences of LGBT+ people in the UK. More than 108,000 people took part – making it the largest national survey of LBGT+ people in the world to date.
The results made sobering reading.
- At least two in five responders had experienced an incident such as verbal harassment or physical violence in the 12 months preceding the survey because they were LGBT. However, nine in 10 of the most serious incidents went unreported to the authorities often because respondents thought “it happens all the time”.
- Some 2% of respondents had undergone “conversion” or “reparative” therapy in an attempt to “cure” them of being LGBT+ and a further 5% had been offered it.
- More than two-thirds of respondents said they avoided holding hands with a same-sex partner for fear of a negative reaction from others.
- LGBT respondents are less satisfied with their lives than the general UK population – rating 6.5 out of 10 on average, compared with 7.7 for the general population. Trans respondents had particularly low scores – around 5.4 out of 10.
- The report also quotes the Crime Survey for England and Wales which says that gay, lesbian and bisexual people are more likely than heterosexual people to be victims of crime.
- Almost a quarter of respondents had accessed mental health services in the 12 months preceding the survey.
“We want to build a country that works for everyone and that means tackling these burning issues.”
On the positive side, it seems that attitudes are changing with younger people more likely to identify as Lesbian Gay or Bisexual. In 2016 the Office for National Statistics estimated that 2% of the UK population identified that way. The proportion was higher for younger people (4.1% of 16-24 year-olds and 2.9% of 25-34 year olds) than older people (0.7% of those aged 65 and over). These figures were for sexual orientation only and not for gender identity.
And so the fight continues. Being gay in the UK was only partially decriminalized in 1968. Other battles, for an equal age of consent, for civil partnerships and then gay marriage were long and hard fought. Gradually here battles are being won. That said, we know it’s not changing for the better everywhere and that in countries such as Brunei, Syria and Russia you can lose your job, your home or even your life if you are part of the LGBT+ community. Exmouth Pride is for LGBT+ people and their friends and families to celebrate diversity together. We would be delighted if you would join us in that celebration.
You can read more about Exmouth Pride on their website here - https://www.exmouthpride.co.uk/
***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Please make sure you check out all our other pages, lots of local lgbt events, local lgbt news, helplines and info on Weymouth & Portlands first Pride event in 2019 too!
This page was last updated 18/06/2019 Weymouth Gay Group 2019
email :- weymouthgaygroup@gmail.com Twitter https://twitter.com/WeymouthGayGrp and some where on facebook too!
LGBT helpline 0800 612 3010 *Confidential non-judgemental support* Run by The Intercom Trust (free from UK mobiles & landlines)
Please make sure you check out all our other pages, lots of local lgbt events, local lgbt news, helplines and info on Weymouth & Portlands first Pride event in 2019 too!
This page was last updated 18/06/2019 Weymouth Gay Group 2019
email :- weymouthgaygroup@gmail.com Twitter https://twitter.com/WeymouthGayGrp and some where on facebook too!
LGBT helpline 0800 612 3010 *Confidential non-judgemental support* Run by The Intercom Trust (free from UK mobiles & landlines)
