Being Queer Is Still a Quandary

As the years go on, it does feel that in certain circles, it is much easier to lead a free, open life if you identify as LGBT. However, in a few countries, gay rights are going in the opposite direction, and the amount of reported homophobic and transphobic attacks have actually increased. So what can be done to halt this slide, and what steps can everyone do to help out your queer friends or neighbours? Well, thankfully, there are a few things you can do.

Recognise Pride as a Protest

It can be hard, sometimes, to remember that the bright, colourful and loud street parades and festivals started out from a place of protest, where queer people had to fight for their right to exist. The first ever Pride parade can be linked back to the Stonewall riots of 1969, where a series of violent demonstrations broke out after the New York Police Department raided the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan.

However, if you don’t know the history and judged modern pride marches on their current merits, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a modern corporate rainbow-fest. As shown in the 2014 film Pride, it depicts true events where the striking miners joined in the London pride march in 1985, combining their efforts with the fight for LGBT rights. So just remember that Pride is a celebration of where we’ve come so far, but it’s also a time to remember how long there still is to go to achieve full equality.

However, that said, a spate of Pride events are just around the corner. And of course, you’re going to have to dress for the occasion. Thankfully, through discount codes on My Favourite Voucher Codes, you can make a host a great savings whilst putting together your Pride outfit. You can save on a whole host of retailers from Boohoo to Debenhams to Topman, so what are you waiting for? Get Pride ready.

Be a Good Ally

If you don’t identify as being on the LGBT spectrum, then it can sometimes be difficult to understand the struggle of being queer and empathise with their situations. However, recognising your own biases and your own actions can go a long way to making a big difference. As a straight person, you’re in a position of power. You aren’t persecuted for loving who you love and have not had restrictions imposed on you just because of your sexuality. Choice of language is normally a good start, as sometimes we can have unconscious biases in our own brains. So if you use a word that a queer person tells you is a slur, instead of steadfastly refusing to believe them, try to understand why they’re saying that and the historical connections associated with the word. If you try to put yourselves in their shoes, then you will become more conscientious and thus, a better LGBT ally, probably without even realising.

Celebrate Progress, Even if Small

It can be so, so easy to bash homophobes. Some do it because they have objections on moral grounds, but some do it because it gives them publicity. I could rattle off quite a few names of people in the public eye who have built a following on twitter by having brash, bigoted, reactionary opinions to whatever’s going on in the news. By thriving on the publicity that the outrage to their opinions generate, their message does get out there, and because their views are bringing in attention, TV platforms are more likely to get them on to argue controversial points, thus bringing in a bigger viewership. One way of combating that is by turning a blind eye to hate, to instead focus on celebrating the successes. By loudly celebrating such successes as Taiwan recently legalising gay marriage and Botswana decriminalising homosexuality after quashing a colonial-era law, you can drown out the dissenting voices by uniting as one.

Obviously these solutions won’t fix the larger problem in its entirety, but just like all the progress LGBT people have fought so hard for in recent years, small steps like these will all add up to a big leap forward in the LGBT rights movement.