This is one very important reason why we still need Pride

And the next time somebody asks where straight Pride is, or why there's all the fuss...
Coming together: The Pride in London parade
Getty Images
Charlie Jones31 July 2017

Talk about the countries where celebrating Pride can get you killed. The recent rise in homophobic hate crimes. The importance of learning queer history and showing gratitude to those who quite literally fought for our rights. Talk about Orlando. Mention the fact nearly half of all trans children in this country have attempted suicide. Or that 80 per cent have self-harmed.

You could talk about the fact that the word for our identity is currently synonymous with “anything generally bad” in most social circles. You could talk about conversion therapy. You could tell them queer couples, without exception, do a risk assessment before holding hands.

There are a million things you could say.

But here’s one more: 62 per cent of LGBTQ+ graduates who are already out to friends and family go back into the closet once they enter the job market.

The gay rights movement has won numerous legislative victories in this country in a relatively short space of time. The right to marry, to adopt, to be protected against a hate crime. These are all important and incredible achievements. But while legislation can be passed in a matter of days, the underlying attitude that gay people are worth less will take much longer to dissipate. Gay people are all too aware of this.

Ellie, 22, works in finance for a food and drinks company. She’s pansexual, but is only out to a select few at work whom she considers friends. “I don’t like thinking I’m in the closet because I’ve come out of the closet. But none of my superiors know.”

Ellie isn’t worried about experiencing overtly threatening bigotry at work; she says she’s hedging her bets, trying to decrease the chances of being on the receiving end of any underlying homophobia that could damage career prospects without her even knowing.

London prepares for Pride 2017 - In pictures

1/10

“In principle I should be fine, my company encourage diversity and being open about that sort of thing. But it’s always at the back of my head that I wouldn't want to do something or tell someone something that could create discrimination for me, and put myself in a position that isn’t best for my career.”

“Through Pride, LGBT history is kept alive, and that encourages communication and talking openly about LGBT issues. It’s a lack of talking that leads to it being stigmatised. I hear colleagues questioning why there needs to be a Pride, and even though I’m not out I can still tell them.”

Joel, 25, is a barista in south London. He’s openly gay (“well about 90 per cent gay”) in his personal life. He says choosing to remain in the closet at work “had nothing to do with feeling uncomfortable with my sexuality.”

“But I was a trainer. I was leading the team. I would’ve lost respect from the people I was training.”

Joel comments that “people think our generation is forward thinking, but I’m worried people just suppress their bigotry and only let it out when it’s in an acceptable environment.”

“Because they didn't know I was gay, work became an acceptable environment. You’d have gay couples coming up to be served and my colleagues would say ‘I like them, they’re not in your face about it’ or others who were more flamboyant and they’d say ‘he’s a big poof’, which is from the 1970s! If you’re going to be offensive, at least come up with something new.”

Joel does regret not coming out: “I do think that in some way I could’ve been a positive representation. But I wasn't really there for that. I was there to do a job.”

For Joel, Pride “definitely has a positive effect”, but he thinks more needs to be done to cement its effects. “To show the huge diversity and an awareness of different people is great. And it’s good that it’s there for people who don’t mix with that crowd. But it’s only for a couple of days, and when it goes down, does it just fade away in people’s minds again?”

Pride Parade 2017 around the world - In pictures

1/34

Antonia, 25, is a creative, and she is using her own experiences of being closeted in work to create a campaign for Pride targeted towards helping graduates feel confident enough to come out in the workplace.

Along with Joel, she appreciates the benefits of visibility Pride brings, “but that seems to end on Monday morning when everyone goes back to work. If you’re that open and comfortable at Pride then our aim is to bring that spirit to the workplace.”

Pride won’t magically make everybody comfortable enough to come out at work, and it won’t encourage everyone to think twice about the discriminatory language they use. But it helps Ellie change her colleagues' attitudes. It encourages Antonia to start a campaign. It may even show Joel’s colleagues the pure unadulterated joy of flamboyancy. It’s not the sole reason we should have Pride, but it is one more reason on top of a million others.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in