Love is Love

The most common misconception of "Brighton Pride" and any other "Pride" event is that it is a movement simply supporting gay rights. I believe this is incorrect. Pride is about human rights. Pride is about people standing together as humans: gay, straight, bi, trans, children, adults and the elderly. Pride is about showing support to those individuals whose fundamental human rights to love who they want and be who they want are being challenged on a daily basis. And so, as a HUMAN, I stood with them last weekend. And it was one of the best experiences of my life.

I've heard a lot of people say "why isn't there a straight pride?" and this is just an example of how uneducated and bigoted people can be, even today. Because Pride isn't just for gay people; and I say this as a straight individual who has never experienced and witnessed so much love and acceptance as I did at Brighton. It didn't matter who I loved or what gender I was: it only mattered that I was there- supporting the rainbow flag and having a good time. Also, why would there need to be a straight pride? What prejudice has a straight person ever had to face- after all, they're the "normal" ones, right? But even so, Pride is not about being GAY, Pride is about being an individual, and loving yourself for who you are.

So whilst I've never had to worry about 'coming out' to my friends or family, never had to struggle with understanding who I am based on who I am attracted to, Pride was still an important event to me, because I got to stand alongside some incredibly fascinating, wonderful people who are proud of themselves. I met some of the most interesting, head strong individuals who were so welcoming and inspirational. Learning what some people have had to go through just to simply be themselves is truly eye-opening and heart-breaking.

In an ideal world, I would love for Pride to no longer exist. Because in an ideal world it wouldn't need to. People wouldn't need to 'come out', because people wouldn't care.

Oh, my friend Paul has a boyfriend? Cool, can't wait to meet him.

It wouldn't be "omg, Paul is GAY!!"

To me, these labels are the issue. Think about it this way: why does it matter who someone is sleeping with? What does THAT private matter have to do with the rest of the world? Why should anyone's job, friendship or social life be affected by what genitals they have or who they share a bed with? It's actually quite weird how obsessed society is with what people do in the bedroom, and what their bodies are like underneath their clothes.

If the people around me only chose to be my friend because of my choice of partner, or if I only got a job based on who I slept with, it would be a huge deal- because I'm straight. So why do other individuals have to go through that? And this is the issue society is still struggling with. People shouldn't be ACCEPTING homosexuality or transgender people, people just shouldn't care. It shouldn't matter, but it does.

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Two things really got me in the feels at Brighton. Firstly, I have to take my hat off to the emergency services throughout Pride. They did an amazing job at making sure everybody had an amazing time, particularly considering the turnout. I was especially surprised at how involved the police got with the atmosphere. I know the police get a lot of stick for being uptight, miserable and downright mood killers sometimes, but this was not the case at Brighton. Those involved and supporting the parade were just as energetic and lovable as the performers, and even the officers on duty didn't fail to get involved: taking selfies and covering themselves in rainbows. Call me old-fashioned but it was so nice to have a real sense of community throughout the event. It just really put a smile on my face to see, so it was worth mentioning.

The other thing that surprised me was seeing so many gay couples walking around proudly, holding hands, particularly the older generations. Because that is something you rarely see, which is quite upsetting. I was actually taken aback by the sheer amount of older couples there were at Pride. I think I was quite ignorant to the fact that older people can be gay too, in a way. Obviously, I'm fortunate enough to be part of a generation where it is typically more accepted to be gay- and I have a lot of openly gay/bi friends, so it is "normal" to see younger couples. Although homophobia still exists, it is less of an issue for this generation as their peers are far more accepting, even if the older generations are not. But to see older people proudly walking about with their partners was truly heart-warming, though bittersweet. Bittersweet, because Pride is one of the only places they probably feel that they can be who they are without fear of judgement. And it shouldn't be like that. Nobody should be afraid to be who they really are. So for me, it was beautiful to see a snippet of what the world could be like if people just stopped caring about what is "normal" and just appreciated love for what it really is.

All in all, I have always supported human rights, I believe everyone has the right to be themselves and love who they want without fear of judgement. I think the world has come a long way in the past 50 years for LGBTQ+ people, and Pride has been a huge part of that. But we aren't there yet. Things will only be okay once LGBTQ are no longer labels, and people can just be

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