Firstly, I am a fierce friend and ally to lots of friends and family within the LGBTQ+ community. Being born and bred in Brighton, a city known for it’s acceptance of ‘different’, Pride has been loud and proud for many years and I consider myself so lucky to grow up with an innate acceptance of this.
As friends and colleagues ‘came out’ as I was growing up, they taught me so much about their lives and the struggles.
Many of the families of children I have looked after are from families that are same sex couples, colleagues have been gay/bisexual and trans. What a rich and varied group of people they are, along with everyone else, that the melting pot is truly rich.
It’s an imperfect world out there and for many there is still some way to go, but I hope so much that just knowing people for who they are, not what, becomes more common place.
I celebrate Pride all year, although the big party in Brighton is early August, and what a party it is!