COMMENT: The importance of Pride in 2017

In what is a highly turbulent political and social world at the moment, I feel Pride events and acknowledgement of the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer) community is so vitally important. What with the likes of Donald Trump banning transgender individuals from the army, and add this into the mix of other political turmoil that is going on around the globe, it feels increasingly like we are taking one step forwards and two steps back.

Brighton Pride is a poignant weekend in my social calendar, and has been for many years. Now in its 26th consecutive year, the event seems to be growing time after time. The first event was in 1973, although then did not take place again until 1991, following political madness under section 20 of the Promotion of Homosexuality Act. So, fast forward over 40 years, and Brighton and Hove Pride could not be bigger or better if it tried.

I cannot explain in words what it means to stand in the middle of a town that you love, surrounded by people that you love, with almost half a million people around you – all going out of their way to come and celebrate. Attending the event this year really stood out to me just how far we as a community and as a society have come, in accepting and promoting homosexuality. To see an entire town shut down for a whole weekend and dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ community, is really quite mind-blowing when you stop and think about it.

2017 marks the 50th year that Homosexuality has been legalised in the United Kingdom, which is a fantastic feeling. There are still 70 or so countries however, where homosexuality is illegal. My literal being – is illegal. That, is something I cannot come to terms with and I don’t think I ever will. It is these daunting facts that make me so immensely proud of the community that we live in now, where we can literally shut down one of the busiest and most densely populated towns in the UK, purely for the sake of celebrating who we are.

I know a lot of the people that attend Pride events around the world will not actually be part of the LGBT community. And of course, that is absolutely fine – great, in fact – as it shows even more support. Sure, some may simply be coming out for the good day and night out, and that’s okay. But what really struck me this year in Brighton was the taste of pride in the air. I had to stop several times throughout the weekend and look around me, to take it all in. I saw teenage boys dressed in full-out drag, holding hands with their mothers. I saw 50-something year old male couples performing Mariah Carey in the back of a cargo lorry in a street party, and a middle aged woman completely naked and just with glitter covering her nipples. How amazing is that, to think that there are places out there in the world that are that accepting and welcoming of people just being who they really are, and not being fearful of it?

Forgive me if I sound rather emotional, soppy and over-dramatic. I may well be exactly that – but cut a guy some slack, I’m writing this incredibly hungover and still covered in glitter. It might also be because of now working in Brighton, I really got a feel for being involved in Pride, and bringing some friends with me who had never been. Regardless, I really think that the UK (and rest of the world’s) Pride events are something to be incredibly proud of, and although we still have a long and heavy fight ahead, I think it is so important to stop for a second and actually take in how far we have come.

Ollie Tunmore is a 20-year-old media production student on a placement year in public relations, as a junior account executive at Magenta Associates in Brighton and Hove.