My first Pride and why I’m still showing up

Photograph of Pride March by Norbu GYACHUNG at Unsplash

Benji Jakab Marton looks back at his first march and forward to why it still matters

It’s that time of year again, the sun’s out, the flags are flying, and Pride month is here. But Pride isn’t just a celebration. It’s a yearly reminder of who fought for us to be here, of who we are, and why the fight isn’t over.

The first time I attended a Pride march was in 2017. I was a closeted teenager, and I went without my parents knowing. All I heard from the media and my school was that Pride was shameless debauchery; but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I found safety and community at Pride. It was the first time in my life I was surrounded by people just like me, the first time I didn’t have to hide my identity out of fear. As a young queer and trans person, the visibility of others like me is what made me realise that who I am was acceptable and not shameful.

The knowledge that I had a support network of LGBTQ+ people and allies to rely on is what helped me get through my teenage years even though my immediate environment was homophobic and transphobic. Even now, I participate in Pride marches annually and experience the same joy I had the first time I attended one.

That feeling of community is what makes Pride so important to me, and it’s why these next examples fill me with hope. As well as a celebration of queerness, Pride has always been a protest against systems of oppression. No matter what political and legislative hardships LGBTQ+ people have to go through, the people in the community take care of each other and show up for each other in moments of need. Keeping Pride marches and Pride month alive demonstrates to cis-and heteronormative society that queer and trans people have always been a part of public life and we are not going away.

The rollback in rights is damaging the mental health and quality of life of our LGBTQ+ community

Pride, originally a commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall riots – has been celebrated worldwide within the LGBTQ+ community for the last 56 years. It is one of the most important and infamous components of the queer liberation movement and the fight against homophobic and transphobic oppression. Some of Pride’s meaning has been watered down in recent years by corporations using Pride to advertise and profit from often factitiously supportive messages to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Despite rainbow capitalism rearing its ugly head, Pride is more needed than ever as queer rights are becoming increasingly endangered under right-wing political administrations.

There has been a gradual, worrying rollback of LGBTQ+ rights since the 2020s. Just this year, over 500 bills are targeting the gay and trans community in the United States. The UK’s ranking on ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map has dropped significantly in the last ten years, especially due to the rise of anti-trans legislation in the country. LGBTQ+ people are also facing a rise in hate crimes and homophobic and transphobic attitudes in the media, with Stonewall UK reporting a 60% increase in victims seeking their support.  Overall, the community’s rights and protections are under attack both politically and culturally.

This regression in rights has had a negative impact on the mental health and life quality of LGBTQ+ people. However, the community and its allies are working tirelessly to change the tide. For example, last year the biggest Pride march to date was organised in Budapest, Hungary despite former prime minister Viktor Orbán’s ban on the event. In the US, transgender woman Zaya Perysian managed to sue the Trump administration for putting ‘male’ as her gender marker on her passport. There is also a current lobby from trans supportive MPs in the UK to block the The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) guidance that would ban trans people from accessing single-sex spaces based on their gender identity.

Overall, my message to LGBTQ+ youth is to keep the faith in our community even in the face of adversities. Do not give up on the idea of queer and trans liberation and show up for the most vulnerable in your community. No matter what anyone says, we have always been here and always will be!