Pride: A History and why we stand with people in the LGBTQIA+ Community

In honour of Pride this month, James Lindsay (our Youth Action Academy member)  has written an informative blog covering the history and reasons why millions of people around the world stand with people in Pride. 

This blog post talks about the laws around sex, it is not sexually explicit.

I often use the word queer. This word has been used as an insult so not everyone likes it. You should only say it with love! But it’s polite to check with someone if they feel comfortable with it or not. I will say this a lot, but everyone is different! People use the word ‘gay’ lots but it’s the word that people used to be cruel when I was growing up, so I’m not a big fan of it myself.

Don’t be afraid to ask people what makes them happy.

What Stress Feels Like

For many people around the world June marks Pride Month, but why? Where does it come from, and why do we celebrate? Let’s find out!

In June 1969 in New York City, USA, protests broke out at the Stonewall Inn. The protest became famous because it was among the first American protests against homophobic and transphobic laws and the police’s cruel behaviour. News spread and the next year people planned protests around the anniversary of this event. This is why June has become known as pride month. Pride protests and celebrations have been happening throughout the years since.

Stonewall became a big inspiration for gay liberation, but it’s important to remember that people there were also trying to reach transgender liberation too.

State laws restricted crossdressing as well as homosexual acts. This meant that people could not be wearing more than a couple of items intended for another gender, which was dangerous for transgender women, people in drag, or crossdressing. At the time the law and the police didn’t care about the difference between being transgender and crossdressing.

Crossdressing has been practiced for thousands of years for lots of different reasons. One of the most common reasons is fun! You might see men dressed as women at pantomimes around Christmas. You might have seen performers in drag. Female impersonation used to be a very popular type of entertainment that was not seen as queer at all.

On the other hand, being transgender is when someone is born one gender, but feels more comfortable as another. This is partially because a lot of our ideas about gender are informed by culture and society, rather than being built in to our bodies. Yes, our bodies come in different shapes, and go through different changes, but our actions, the things we like or dislike, our hobbies don’t come from that. Most people have a sense in their mind of what their gender is.

But Stonewall wasn’t in the UK, and it wasn’t everyone’s history. Things are slightly different here. February is LGBT history month here, and there’s lots of LGBT history out there!

Another big difference within the UK is that it’s made up of lots of countries (Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England). Some decisions are made in England, and some are not. This means that laws changed at different times. England’s control of Wales meant that the rules for people living in England and Wales changed at the same time.

Here is a brief timeline of those changes:

Homosexuality between men was legalised in 1967

• However, the age of consent for them was higher than it was for everyone else. This law stated that participants had to be 21. The age of consent for other kinds of sex was 16.

• Before this men could be sent to prison, or given drugs intended to change their sexuality. Alan Turing, a mathematician who did vital work during the second world war, is perhaps the most well-known person who was punished in this way.

• Homosexual acts between women were never made illegal like they were for men, but women were still at risk of discrimination.

The age of consent was equalised in Wales, England, and Scotland in 2000.

•  It had been lowered to 18 in 1994, but this still wasn’t fair and equal.

•  In Northern Ireland the age of consent was only equalised in 2008.

Civil partnerships became legal in 2004.

•  A civil partnership was intended to be a bit like a marriage, but without legalising gay marriage completely. It gives couples the legal benefits that come with getting married. This includes things like being able to visit a partner in the hospital and consult on their care if they get sick, and having the same rights to own a house together.

•  Before gay marriage was legal, the problem wasn’t just that couples couldn’t have a wedding, but that long term partners didn’t have the same protections under the law.

•  Creating civil partnerships also meant that religions did not have to decide if they wanted to perform gay marriages yet, because it was a government process.

•  2005 saw the first civil partnerships. In England and Wales 1,857 couples had their partnerships legally recognised. In 2006 that number grew and there were almost 15,000!

Gay marriage was introduced in 2013, and the first weddings happened in 2014.

•  The first ever gay marriages in the UK happened on the 29 th March 2014.

•  The first country in the world to legalise gay marriage was the Netherlands in 2001.

•  There are now 38 countries around the world where same sex marriages are performed, but there are around 200 countries in total. For lots of people getting married and having the equal rights that come with that still isn’t possible.

All of this is very recent history! Even the parts from before you were born are within living memory, even though people have been getting married for thousands of years. To put it into perspective:

•  Homosexuality between men was illegal when my grandparents were born.

•  Gay people had a higher age of consent when my mum was born, and it was teachers were not allowed to talk about homosexuality in schools. Gay couples weren’t allowed to adopt children.

•  There were no civil partnerships or weddings for gay people when I was born.

Now all of those things have changed. And they’ve only changed because people were brave enough to protest, and demand that they be treated with the same respect. The government wouldn’t have given us equal rights if the people that came before us didn’t fight for it. This is what Pride is about.

If you are queer or LGBT+, or if you are thinking about it, things can be scary. This is why we all need to work together to make sure that everyone is respected.

So happy Pride! Remember it’s not just a celebration. But it’s also not just a fight. It’s both. And that’s what makes it so important.

It’s never been easier to talk about, learn about, or ask about queerness. Enjoy that! Take advantage of all this wonderful knowledge that people worked so hard to make and protect. The world is much for varied, colourful, and interesting than some people would have you believe.