Pride Month

June is Pride month – a month dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ communities all around the world.

Why June?

Pride is celebrated in the month of June, as this was the month when Stonewall riots took place. These riots were important protests that took place in 1969 in the USA, that changed gay rights.

It is now a celebration of people coming together in love and friendship, to show how far LGBTQ+ rights have come. It is about acceptance, equality, education and raising awareness of issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community. It also calls for people to remember how damaging homophobia was and still can be today, and also how in some places there is still work to be done. There are still countries in the world where the death penalty is punishment for being gay.

Pride is all about being proud of who you are no matter who you love.

Scouts welcome everyone, regardless of gender identity or sexuality. FLAGS is a National Scout Active Support Unit that actively supports the recruitment, retention, and ongoing support of LGBT+ adults in Scouts.

Attending Pride events is a way of demonstrating our communities to building a more inclusive society and openly welcoming LGBT+ members. FLAGS has been attending Pride events for some years now.

To see where the Scouts will be parading this year, use the link Scout Pride 2022 | Scouts

Below is a list of Prides that are taking place in Hampshire and beyond:

• Saturday 28^th May – Chichester Pride
• Saturday 11^th June – Portsmouth Pride
• Saturday 2^nd July – Pride in London & Salisbury Pride
• Saturday 9^th July – Bourne Free (Bournemouth)
• Saturday 16^th July – Isle of Wight Pride (Ryde)
• Saturday 6^th August – Brighton Pride
• Saturday 20^th August – New Forest Pride (New Milton)
• Saturday 27^th August – Southampton Pride
• Saturday 3^rd September – Reading Pride
• Saturday 10^th September – Eastleigh Pride

For more information on supporting Scouts that are part of the LGBT+ community see these pages on the Scout website. There is some guidance to attending pride, and how you can let HQ know on the Pride page too.