Pride 2025
June is celebrated as Pride Month across the world for LGBTQIA+ people. In the current volatile political landscape, it is more important than ever in celebrating identity, affirming the right to exist freely, and honouring the struggles and triumphs of the queer community.
TV, films, literature and music play a vital role in fostering a sense of belonging by telling authentic stories, reflecting diverse experiences, and creating visibility. These help connect individuals across time and place, offering comfort, inspiration, and a reminder that they are not alone. Through shared narratives and cultural expression, they help build community, challenge prejudice, and promote empathy and understanding.
Personally, when attending Pride or other LGBT+ focussed events, I have always felt such a huge sense of community. There is nothing more comforting than being amongst a group of like minded people with similar experiences. Those connections create a safe space to express who you are without fear of consequence.
Pride is still a protest as well as a celebration. It serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come and the people that fought to get us here but also how much further there is to go for every queer person to be treated fairly with equal rights. There is no LGB without the T.
And there certainly wouldn’t be Pride without transwomen.
Resources/recommendations
I’ve put together a list of recommendations and resources (old and new) that I think represent the importance of connections within the queer community, including allies.
Adverts
A really simple video that shows how simple acts of solidarity can make all the difference.
Podcasts
Munroe Berdorf’s episode on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast.
TV Shows
Lost Boys and Fairies - BBC
A beautiful series that looks at how “Family is made from love. A heartbreaking, joyous and musical tale of gay couple Andy and Gabriel's journey to adoption.”
Big Boys - Channel 4
A comedy series about Jack Rooke’s experiences going to university in the 2010s and the unlikely friendships that he finds and the family he creates.
Films
Pride (2014)
Inspired by true events about how two unlikely communities came together during the mining strikes. It’s a really beautiful film and is partly set in one of my favourite bookshops, Gay’s the Word on Marchmont St in London.
Blue Jean (2022)
Set in 1988 as Thatcher’s government introduces Section 28 it follows the struggles of Jean, a lesbian PE teacher, as she comes to terms with what that means for her personal & professional life.
Paris is Burning (1991)
This is a cult documentary that focuses on drag queens and transwomen in the ballroom culture of New York City in the late 80s. It is an important film that had a profound impact on the queer community that is still being felt to this day.
Literature
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven series by Juno Dawson.
Four friends and witches that are part of a secret government department face a new threat, which could cause a rift in their friendship as well as wider ramifications for the general public. It explores themes of gender, power, and feminism in a story of magic and sisterhood.
The Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin
These ten novels from 1978 to 2024 cover the life of a group of friends who find companionship and family whilst living at 28 Barbary Lane under the watchful eye of the mysterious Anna Madrigal. Funny and touching, these books have a lot of heart to them.
Love from the Pink Palace by Jill Nader
If anyone has watched It’s a Sin by Russell T Davies this is a must read, it’s the autobiographical story of Jill Nader (who was fictionalised in the series and played by Lydia West). It’s a personal and deeply moving account of friendship at the start of the AIDS crisis in the 80s.
Music
Rina Sawayama & Elton John collabed for this beautiful ballad about the importance of Chosen Family.
Kate Nash is back and with a feminism and gender rights anthem to boot - GERM (Lyric video). Some lyrics and visuals are NSFW.
Other
The Good Law project is a collective that strives to hold the people in power accountable for their actions. They do a lot of good work, not just for the LGBT+ community, although one of their campaigns is specifically aimed at supporting Trans Rights following the Supreme Court announcement recently.
Support resources
https://www.akt.org.uk/resources/resources-for-the-trans-community/
https://goodlawproject.org/resource/support-resources-for-trans/
