Pride is a Protest
Rising from the Stonewall riots, Pride has radical roots.
Whilst we all love a chance to celebrate our love and our achievements, Pride should be more than hearts and rainbows – it’s gratitude for the lengths those before us have gone to and the trials they have endured… it’s a reminder that so many people globally are at risk of violence, persecution, torture, imprisonment, ostracisation or death… It’s a big fuck you to bullies in the playgrounds as well as in positions of power… it’s a prompt to get radical.
I’ve been subjected to verbal and physical attacks on too many occasions to name. There is a little box in my head where I lock away these experiences because they are just too much to try and explain. This is not unusual. Fear, shame and trauma are, sadly, things that affect many of our community, if not all at some point in their lives.
Navigating the world as a queer woman is scary, despite having the privileges of being white, able bodied, financially stable, and living in a liberal country. I can’t imagine trying to exist at the intersection of multiple marginalisations.
The negatives aside,
I am proudly and happily who I am. I am creative and kind. I enjoy cake and I know good dogs. I am lucky to have a loving and supportive chosen family and I’m filled to the brim with joy to finally have the partner and children that I was conditioned to believe I couldn’t have or didn’t deserve.
What non LGBTQIA+ people can do:
- Google internalised homophobia and mental health in LGBTQIA+ youth.
- Call out heteronormativity, transphobia and homophobia in all its forms. Challenge your pals, your colleagues, your local MP, that pillock at the bus stop etc.
- Use your privilege/s to pursue positive change for other people.
- Get radical, whether you are part of the community, a proud ally or just a decent human being.
Being LGBTQIA+ in the workplace:
Representation and visibility is vitally important. Every workplace should strive to have visible members of the LGBTQIA* community in management, role models and mentoring programmes for LGBTQIA* employees and anti-discrimination policies and procedures with an intersectional perspective. I am 40 years old and I have never had a boss that wasn’t a cis-het white man. Think on that for a minute and track your career back…have you?
Being LGBTQIA+ at Alive:
Being queer at Alive hasn’t been a ‘thing’. I’ve not had to out myself, justify or explain myself, no one has really bat an eyelid – other than to say welcome. We’re a diverse bunch with some wildly clever, beautiful, outspoken, confident and multifaceted folk and I’ve been welcomed for exactly who I am.
Read our stories …