So, June is Pride month, and I have made a couple of posts on my social media showing my support, which is only to be expected as I am self-labelled as a gay author and to live up to any stereotype I also parade around in my underwear, even on the homepage of my official website. Bloody gays!
But joking aside, I really did feel the need to make this small blog about the important need to still celebrate these Pride events. The world has moved on massively; I do not deny this. In my lifetime, being gay was a criminal offence in the UK, and my own teenage years took place during the AIDS pandemic. In contrast, today's teenagers can watch and relate to programmes such as the recently released Heartstopper. Watch it if you haven't, whoever you are. It is beautiful beyond words.
And yet there is still so far to go. My recent post for Pride, a picture of my husband and me at a previous Brighton Pride event, received some homophobia. An absolutely charming lady tells us we should be ashamed of ourselves as the bible does not allow for our kind! I have thick skin, so her opinion bothers me, not one jot. I just reported and blocked her, but these attitudes persist along with much worse!
We allow countries to participate in globally staged events such as the Olympics when they continue to impose the death penalty for being gay. I appreciate different countries are on slower paths, but we should encourage them to speed up. And LGBTQ+ hate crime is on the rise in my own country too. It is just mindless.
We have progress, not equality. Keep waving the flag! đłď¸âđ