Bracknell Forest Pride 2024

June is a month dedicated to celebrating LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or sometimes questioning), intersex, asexual, and others) communities all around the world.

It is a time where millions of people and places display rainbow flags and companies have promotions, events or products in honour of celebrating Pride. Lots of different Pride parades take place worldwide too.

Having said this, many people still don’t know or understand why Pride Month exists and what the purpose of the parades are.

Pride Month has a very specific history and purpose. It is a deeply meaningful and moving time which holds great significance for the LGBTQIA+ community.

To understand Pride Month and why there are parades and events, it’s important to understand the history.

Pride is celebrated in June, as that was the month when the Stonewall riots took place.

The Stonewall riots were important protests that took place in 1969 in the USA. It changed gay rights for a lot of people in America and around the world.

The first Pride marches started the following year, on 28 June 1970, to commemorate the multiday riot. These one-day celebrations eventually evolved into a full month.

The first Pride march in the UK took place on 1 July 1972, when an estimated 1,000 people marched from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park.

Pride events in Sussex and Liverpool followed within the decade. London hosted EuroPride in 1992, where an estimated 100,000 people attended. Today, hundreds of thousands will attend a Pride event during the month itself or soon afterwards.

Pride month is about:

• acceptance
• equality
• celebrating the work of LGBTQIA+ people
• education in LGBTQIA+ history 
• raising awareness of issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community

It also calls for people to remember how damaging homophobia was and still can be.

Find out more about the history of Pride on history.com.

Pride Month has a remarkable history. It has seen much positive growth and support since the Stonewall riots in 1969. But, many in the LGBTQIA+ community still face prejudice, oppression, and violence worldwide.

LGBTQIA+ people still face unacceptable stigma and discrimination just simply for being themselves. We continue to see homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in today’s society and on social media.

Some places are still passing legislation which deny the rights of the Pride community. Some laws deny the rights of LGBTQIA+ people. They block them from living, loving, working, getting medical care, using the bathroom and even just existing.

In healthcare, the LGBTQIA+ community face inequalities in terms of access to services, clinical outcomes and their overall experience.

Due to this injustice, Pride must continue to be deeply important so we can stand in solidarity with, and fight for human rights and visibility of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Pride is a visible, supported and joyous event which shows the Pride community that it is a beautiful, diverse and welcomed community. A community that people should feel proud to be a member of and one that deserves the rights and dignities of every human.