For decades, I didn’t like Pride. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. But three years ago I joined the Dublin parade, and that changed everything for me. Some people say it’s a protest, but for me the most important thing is awareness. Ultimately we are all human beings. We all deserve to be treated with respect. And Pride gives people a platform.Rebecca Tallon de Havilland. member of the National AIDS Trust Community Advisory Group
Pride month, for me, is first and foremost about LGBT+ rights – our right to exist, to love, to express ourselves, and to live freely and safely without discrimination. It’s a collective call to be seen and heard that we will not be silenced or pushed to the margins. Pride honours the long and ongoing struggle for equal rights, from marriage equality to protection from hate, and legal recognition of our identities. That includes standing in full support of trans rights, which are human rights. In a time when trans communities face increasing hostility and injustice, Pride must be a loud, unapologetic call for their safety, dignity, and inclusion. Pride is not just about visibility – it’s about demanding justice, equality, and full human rights for every member of the LGBT+ community.Robbie Currie: Chief Executive of National AIDS Trust
It’s easy to take the freedom I have for granted – I’ve worked for much of my life in LGBT+ organisations, or those that are full of supportive allies, and live in a city where for the most part I’m able to be myself.Chris Dye, Partnerships and Philanthropy Specialist, National AIDS Trust
But for most of us, the collective experience of being LGBT+ invariably started with feeling alone, that we were ‘the only one’, and with shame, self-hatred and fear of rejection and hurt. LGBT+ spaces, and Pride are a lifeline. At London Pride 2000, I went from being ‘the only one’ to being in a huge crowd of people who also thought they were ‘the only one’. For me, Pride brings us together so that no one has to feel that they are ‘the only one’.
We have made amazing progress in this country, not only in terms of LGBT+ rights, but also in things like access to PrEP, which was led by LGBT+ activists along with National AIDS Trust. Our community has been at the forefront of the response to HIV and AIDS since the very beginning. But we also know that so many people here in the UK and around the world are being marginalised because they are LGBT+, and even more so when you consider those from the queer community who are also living with HIV.Ant Babajee: member of the National AIDS Trust Community Advisory Group
Across the world, policies are being implemented that are homophobic or transphobic, and the HIV response is really damaged by that. Not just in terms of the services that are then available, but also because it means that people are less willing to come forward to get sexual health check-ups or HIV tests. We have fought and won so many battles here in the UK, but from a global perspective there is just so much that we still need to do – and so many hearts and minds we still need to win over. That’s why we still need Pride and that’s why it’s important that we celebrate, but also that we reflect on the fact that Pride is actually a protest, and we need to get our voices heard.
Pride Month is a time to honour the courage and creativity of LGBT+ people across communities and generations, to remember that the freedoms many of us enjoy today were hard-won and often at great personal cost. It gives us the opportunity to reflect on our own experience and others’ journeys, and on the work we still need to do to ensure that everyone, whoever they are and whoever they love, can live with dignity, and without fear or shame.Matthew Weait: Chair of the National AIDS Trust Board of Trustees
Pride Month also reminds us that the fight against HIV is part of a broader movement for liberation. NAT works to confront the injustices faced by those in marginalised communities who face barriers to accessing HIV prevention, treatment and care. Pride Month is a time when we can reaffirm our commitment to this work: fighting stigma, achieving equitable healthcare, and ensuring that no one is left behind.
Pride means to me: Solidarity and the refusal to be ashamed of who we are.Manoel Filho: member of National AIDS Trust Community Advisory Group
We will continue to support each other and fight tirelessly until every LGBT+ individual can live openly and authentically without fear.
As a straight (white) cisgender woman, and – I hope – an ally to the LGBT+ community, Pride Month represents a time when, more than ever, it is really important for people like me to show solidarity by listening respectfully and amplifying the voices of the community. I am so fortunate to have the privilege and the opportunities that my identity have afforded me, and a role in public relations, media and communications, that gives me the ability to do this, so I try to use my position and the work that I do supportively, appropriately, and without centring myself. This short paragraph potentially goes against that aspiration, so perhaps that is as much as I ought to say for now!Jude Clarke: National AIDS Trust’s Media and PR Manager
You know what? Celebrating in the streets isn’t just a gay thing — it’s a British thing.Alan O’Neill: National AIDS Trust supporter and HIV activist
We shut down cities for football wins, royal weddings, and Notting Hill Carnival so when we fill the streets for Pride, we’re doing what we always do: celebrating what matters.
Yeah, we’re still fighting. Discrimination’s still real — from fertility struggles to trans rights being debated like clickbait.
But we’ve also come so far — and that deserves JOY.
Pride is protest, Pride is power, And Pride is a bloody good party.
We’ve earned the right to take up space.
We’ve earned the right to celebrate.
And we’re not going anywhere.
🌈 See you in the streets.