Pride 2016

For those of you that don't know, yesterday was Pride in London! Pride is a massive event, celebrated all over the world, in which people of the LGBT+ community come together to show our pride and solidarity. I was so happy I was able to go and I had such an amazing time that I couldn't not share it on my blog!

 

We took the 10 o'clock train straight into London Kings Cross and from there (after McDonald's of course) we took the tube to Leicester Square and walked down to Trafalgar towards the main stage. The queue was long and although that was a pain at first, it moved quickly and it was great to see just how many people had turned up to celebrate our LGBT+ community!

We made a £3 donation to 'Pride in London' to get into Trafalgar Square which gave us access to multiple stools selling merchandise, giving out leaflets and raising awareness of protected sex and STD testing as well as the events of the main stage!

 

Just before heading over to Soho Square we saw Jeremy Corbyn (the current leader of the Labour party). He was really nice and it was great to see a high profile politician supporting a great cause, especially with the pressure on him concerning the EU Referendum which many were protesting for at Pride.

 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, gave a really inspiring speech on the main stage about how great it is to see us all coming together. He also mentioned the need for solidarity between the Muslim community and the LGBT+ community. Many other speakers also brought to light the need to stamp out, not just homophobia and transphobia, but also Islamophobia and Racism. It was extremely nice to see people expressing how Pride is not just a safe place for white members of our community, but also those of different races and religions who may experience more than just homophobic/transphobic oppression.

Seeing so many people wearing bright coloured clothing and hair colours, holding rainbow flags and wearing rainbow accessories really added to the feel of the community. In a way, it shocked me to see just how many people had turned up to celebrate our freedom to be who we are in terms of gender and sexuality. It was almost surreal to see the amount of people there all radiating so much positive energy.

I'm so happy and thankful that we live in a place in the world where we a free to be who we are without shame. I'm thankful for the laws that protect us against discrimination and I'm thankful that we have lovely people that put on events like Pride so that we can all feel accepted!

I had such a great time, but sadly there are people that could not come to Pride because they don't feel comfortable enough to come out at this time. My heart truly goes out to all the people who feel like they have to hide, and yesterday at Pride we weren't just celebrating for everyone there, but also for the people that are questioning their sexuality/gender or are afraid to come out.

If you would like anymore information about this please visit Pride in London or you can even donate to some lovely LGBT+ charities here and here!

Have any of you ever been to Pride or would like to go in the future? Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know!

 

Georgia x