Pride 2020

Happy Pride!

Covid-19 may have shut down our Pride parades, but that won’t stop the LGBT+ Community from finding a way to celebrate.  Amnesty International have teamed up with UK Black Pride, Stonewall, and ParaPride to bring you Pride Inside.  From 28 June to 5 July, Pride Inside will bring an online series of gigs, comedy shows, panel discussions, and arts-based events.

IP Inclusive will be holding their own event on 22 June.  The annual Diversity in IP Breakfast will feature Daniel Winterfeldt, partner at Reed Smith and founder and chair of the InterLaw Diversity Forum alongside diversity champion Parminder Lally (Appleyard Lees) and IP Inclusive Lead Executive Officer Andrea Brewster to discuss allyship and intersectionality.  Starting at 0830, it’s an early start; but since it’s all online, you don’t need to go too far from your bed to participate!

2020 has already been a tumultuous year, and, on the LGBT+ rights front, it has been no different, particularly across Europe.  While the UK government has made noises that worry our trans siblings (and vocal minorities forcing* Warwickshire Council to suspend transgender advice), Hungary has gone as far to end their legal recognition entirely.  The pandemic has also exposed undercurrents of homophobia in South Korea.  On the other side, Germany has banned conversion therapy for minors and Albania’s Order of Psychologists have banned its members from carrying out the practice, effectively outlawing it.

Pride is a time for the LGBT+ community to be visible and to remind world leaders that we exist and that we will continue in our bid to ensure our rights are equal to those that are straight and cisgendered.  It is also a time for us to provide inspiration and hope to our siblings, both at home and in other countries, and to show them that we can live with pride.

I also want to take this moment to extend a hand in solidarity to black members of the LGBT+ community and to the black community as a whole.  There have been many comparisons of the Minneapolis riots to the Stonewall riots, and, while there are some merits to the comparison, they are not the same.  With the Stonewall riots, there was at least a clear set of objectives in terms of which legal barriers needed to be removed and which protections needed enshrining in order for the majority of the LGBT+ community to at least be legally accepted.  Combatting the systemic racism that exists at all levels in the US and elsewhere is far more challenging.

Times of crisis often expose the deep set fractures in our society.  This time, lockdown has propelled the police into the limelight as figures having far more power and authority at local levels compared to normal.  But police officers are not amoral; each has their own societal views that they may choose to expose through the exertion and abuse of their power and authority.  Many members of the general public too look to assign blame at the feet of others.  Times of crisis clarify to us why we need to protect the rights of minorities, so that they may not be abused by others.  This is why we need Pride.

Stay vigilant and stay safe.

Conor

IP Out Committee Member

Dehns

*EDIT: The original source for the removal of Warwickshire Council’s trans toolkit came from the Safe School Alliance (SSA), an anti-trans lobbying group.  The link to that source has now been removed and replaced by a new link. According to the PinkNews article which is now used as the updated source for this story, the SSA has been mounting numerous legal attacks on trans-inclusive policies across the UK.  I apologise for the offence caused by the use of the original source; the fault is my own.  Thank you to SJ Paines for bringing this to my attention.

Conor

Page published on 1st June 2020
Page last modified on 2nd June 2020