Are you in need of some LGBTQIA+ joy today?
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY JUAN MOYANO
We all have our favourite stories from Pride. Perhaps you fondly remember your first march or the time you snogged a future lover at an after-party. For some of us, it will simply be remembering the feeling of being in a crowd of people who unconditionally support and accept our identity. We’re living in scary times for LGBTQIA+ rights, and it’s vital that we remember that hope can be a powerful tool.
To celebrate this Pride Month, here are four stories that may inspire you.
Eswatini’s first-ever Pride (2018)
Despite the fact that homosexuality is illegal in Eswatini, the country’s LGBTQIA+ population took a defiant and daring jump to hold their first Pride in 2018. Around 500 people marched in Mbabane, the capital of Eswatini, in the face of potential police presence and violence. The sheer bravery in the face of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation is more than inspiring – it is a direct call to action for all of us to stand up for what we believe in.
São Paulo Gay Pride Parade, Brazil
Dubbed the biggest Pride celebration in the world, the São Paulo Gay Pride Parade brings together five million people every year to celebrate LGBTQIA+ rights. To put that into perspective, that’s nearly the entire population of New Zealand. Each year, the Parade has a strong slogan to carry forward messages of LGBTQIA+ resistance. This year’s is “Aging LGBT+: Memory, Resistance and Future”.
Batt Close Pride March, UK
From the biggest Pride celebration in the world to the smallest! This 80m Pride parade takes place in Warwickshire annually, with around 40 of the residents living on Batt Close taking part. With high heel races and fundraising taking place, this may be one of the world’s smallest Prides but it is certainly mighty.
Christopher Street Liberation Day 1970, US
The Pride that started it all. Following the Stonewall Uprising the year before, people like bisexual activist Brenda Howard came together to galvanise a march to protest attacks on LGBTQIA+ people. On 28 June, around 3,000 people marched and chanted through the streets of New York.
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I am a trans woman, I transitioned in 2013 when the world looked be a better place for trans people. Where hope of a better future was ripe in the air. We older trans folk talked about how we would be the dinosaurs as young people were able to transition before either Testosterone or Oestrogen had made its unwelcome appearance felt.
But now in 2025 I’m scared, I am being told work are making changes that are likely to have negative consequences for me. I work in the NHS working with vulnerable older adults in the community. I may travel some distance be out a long time and need a toilet it is possible there will no longer be one for me.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission guidence would mean. No to changing rooms; I love camping but that’s going to have to stop. I have a health condition where poorer outcomes are expected if a person does less exercise and experiences a lot of stress my local gym told me not to return. I my be excluded from public life. I leave you work out why I’m stressed. Rose.