{"id":97,"date":"2021-06-04T17:08:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/?p=97"},"modified":"2021-06-04T17:13:57","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:13:57","slug":"pride-2021-the-importance-of-pride-month-and-the-effect-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-the-lgbtq-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/2021\/06\/04\/pride-2021-the-importance-of-pride-month-and-the-effect-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-the-lgbtq-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride 2021: the importance of Pride month and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the LGBTQ+ community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every June, the LGBTQ+ community celebrates Pride month in honour of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, which marked a turning point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here in the UK, Pride month kickstarts the nationwide Pride season comprising various events and celebrations. In Kent, the festivities are centred around the popular Canterbury Pride festival and parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event had to be cancelled in 2020 and is this year postponed to September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early June, local LGBTQ+ people and their allies would ordinarily be making preparations for what has become a key event in Canterbury\u2019s social and cultural calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cancellation and postponement of Pride events is significant because these events allow queer people to come together with others in their community and celebrate the important developments of the LGBTQ+ movement that have occurred over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rianne Brown, 23, has just completed her degree at the University of Kent in English and American Literature and Sociology. Miss Brown has \u201cfond memories\u201d of Canterbury Pride and is saddened by its postponement, as university leavers will no longer be living in the city for the September date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think cancelled pride events can really isolate young queer people, especially if they live in small towns or with unaccepting families. It has been great to see that people have been able to meet and bond online instead, but it\u2019s not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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COVID-19 has had a massive impact on the community because it has prevented LGBTQ+ people from accessing their support systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those with unsupportive families have been forced to spend long periods of time in hostile environments which has been shown to have severe effects on their mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people are looking for alternative ways to celebrate Pride month. Miss Brown added that she will be focusing on \u201cconsuming queer media, such as books and tv shows, especially those written by queer people\u201d to commemorate this year\u2019s Pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are, however, new and exciting arrangements unfolding in Kent to develop the county\u2019s Pride celebrations and combat the disappointment of the Canterbury event\u2019s postponement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edd Withers, 33, founded Kent Pride early in 2021 having previously spent four years as chair of Canterbury Pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I\u2019ve just founded Kent Pride which is hoping to become Kent\u2019s main pride event. Pride Canterbury is awesome and the team at Pride Canterbury will continue carrying the torch but I felt there was a need to bring together the whole community of Kent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of villages and rural towns across Kent that are not going to get the chance to be represented by an annual Pride event where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Withers and his team are aiming to create an annual event which will also build a digital community offering year-round services and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the importance of Pride, he added: \u201cPride events are for many people the one day of the year they can walk down their own high street holding their partner’s hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This positive news is bound to lift the spirits of the local LGBTQ+ community in Kent who can now look forward to a brand new Pride event in the area to enhance the annual festivities. The additional digital community and services being developed will also provide a fantastic new support system to those who need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is lucky for Canterbury and Kent residents, whereas further afield there are no official alternative plans in place and some Pride events are being completely cancelled rather than postponed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton and Hove Pride is one of Europe\u2019s biggest Pride Festivals attracting thousands of people every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The organisers of Brighton Pride published a statement revealing that it will yet again have to cancel due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement explained the cause of the event\u2019s absolute cancellation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDelivering Pride requires a year-round planning cycle working closely with our partner agencies and, while the vaccine rollout continues to be successful, the many uncertainties that need to be resolved to safely deliver mass gatherings and the complexities of organising Pride in our City are impossible to achieve in the time we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many queer people in Sussex, this news has come as a shocking blow which is going to have a major effect on the community in the area when there are no alternative arrangements in place to combat the cancelation of this celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essie Mitchell, 23, of Boyne Road, Hastings, was supposed to attend this year\u2019s Pride in Brighton and has spoken of what its cancellation will mean for those who are less fortunate than herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI came out a few years ago. I have become more comfortable with my sexuality, and I\u2019m very lucky to have a supportive network of friends and family around me. But this must be devastating for people who are yet to come out, who may be struggling with their sexuality, and who consider Pride to be their only safe space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miss Mitchell insists that Pride is not cancelled and added that there are other ways to celebrate Pride month in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead of attending Pride I will be hosting a small gathering during the summer to have a Pride party with my closest friends. I just want everyone to be happy, wear colourful clothes and express themselves in any way that they want. We\u2019ll have some food and drinks and watch an LGBTQ+ film.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite everything, the community is full of strong people who are determined to continue celebrating love in all its forms. Queer people and their allies in Kent will be able to come together and celebrate Canterbury Pride on Saturday 11th<\/sup> September 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every June, the LGBTQ+ community celebrates Pride month in honour of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, which marked a turning point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States and around the world. Here in the UK, Pride month kickstarts the nationwide Pride season comprising various events and celebrations. In Kent, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories-from-across-the-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk\/kentconnect\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}