Pride says to Portsmouth people, Britain and the world: be yourself. Live freely and openly.
It is an opportunity to reflect on past achievements and recognise the challenges ahead.
This year has been a particularly difficult year, and after last year’s celebrations being cancelled, I’m sorry we cannot all be together again to celebrate the strength of Portsmouth’s LGBT+ community and great city’s diversity.
What does give me pride, is that our community has overcome the challenges of this year; sticking together; supporting each other and organising brilliant events like Portsmouth Digital Pride.
But despite even the announcement that the barbaric practice of conversion therapy is now set to be banned in this country, many challenges still lie ahead for the LGBT+ community.
So, whilst it’s important to take the time to celebrate how far we’ve come, we have so much more to do to achieve full equality.
At its heart Pride, is a protest. Let’s renew our commitment today to fight for a fairer, more equal Britain. Together we’ll achieve it.
Happy Portsmouth Pride!
Stephen Morgan MP
