Pride and joy

For me personally attending pride events is vital, not only because you have the time of your life partying alongside people of every race, gender and sexual orientation but also because you get to stand in solidarity with thousands of people fighting the same battles and causes you are fighting.

Pride can be taken for granted at times, it can be seen as just another outdoor event with lots of colours and loud music but it is so much more than that, it is a chance to see how far the LGBT+ community has come, a chance to be a part of history.

This is key because as we all know the LGBT+ community hasn’t always been celebrated, we haven’t always been able to be as loud and as proud as what we are today so to be able to have an event which celebrates the magic of the gay world is truly incredible.

I attended my first pride only a few months after coming out so therefore I was still battling with myself trying to discover who I am and what I was.

Realising you are gay is just as hard as it is coming out to close ones, you simply just have no clue to what’s to come but once I attended my first pride I suddenly felt at home and at peace with myself.

The overwhelming feeling of happiness and belonging quickly replaced the feeling of being unwanted or weird, my first London pride helped me to embrace my differences and that is something you remember, always.

The lovely, colourful over-excited people around me had no clue they had just helped a young Lesbian come to terms with herself just like you may not realise you have done that for somebody else.

Besides all that it isn’t just about showing support it is also about having an absolute blast!

Dance on moving stages with the most glamorous drag queens you will ever meet, sing alongside thousands of people at the main stages or you can simply stand by with a cold brew and let the pride buzz enlighten you.

So either way, gay or straight your local pride event is not to be missed.

And if you’re near Edinburgh (Saturday June 17) why not join in and see for yourself – it’ll be great!

For more on Unite LGBT + and equalities generally see Unite’s web site.