COMMENT: Pride is for everyone – not just the LGBTQ community

ON Tuesday morning this week, I woke up to see an interview on TV with a therapist in the UK who offers ‘gay conversion therapy’. This heated exchange with the man on Good Morning Britain followed a separate undercover investigation by a newspaper in Liverpool which found a church in the city was offering a similar service because homosexuality is the ‘devil’s work’.

I mention this ahead of this weekend’s Pride event in Jersey, because I can already hear the internet forums in the Island buzzing with one of my favourite arguments: ‘Why isn’t there a straight Pride?’ Oh how that makes me smile.

First of all, Pride is open to everybody, so if you feel like you’re missing out on things, come join in. The parade through town from West’s Centre to the Weighbridge is a thing of joy. Celebrating equality and diversity in all its forms. Then there’s the speeches on stage which will serve as a reminder to all why Pride matters followed by, yes, a good old party!

I wrote my first column in the JEP a couple of years ago, at the invitation of the ’paper’s editor, in response to an anti-gay marriage column from another contributor.

My view was, and is, that while I vehemently disagreed with his arguments, I also respected his right to air those views.

Two years on, gay marriage – or, more accurately, equal marriage – has now been introduced in Guernsey. And the world hasn’t stopped spinning on its axis. And if things remain on track, it’ll be introduced in Jersey by the end of this year.

Oh, and I’m engaged to my lovely fiancé. He and I can’t wait to get married here in the Island next spring.

That, for me, as well as being a landmark in my life, and a chance to show family, friends and the world our commitment to each other, will also serve as a reminder about how far we – as an island community – have come.

But it’s not job done. And hence the need for Pride.

Gay conversion therapy being available in the UK is only the most recent example I’ve seen of why there’s more to do. Just last week, the police in Jersey revealed the scale and nature of hate crimes locally. And, yes, hate crimes against gay people here do happen.

But Pride is also about shining a spotlight on what’s happening elsewhere in the world. There are countries where it’s illegal to be gay. Countries where people are murdered for being gay. Countries where I cannot go on holiday because I’m gay. Substitute the word
‘gay’ for the word ‘straight’ and just imagine that.

Pride is not about gay rights, it’s about equal rights, where we can all just get on with our lives. Straight, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or whatever you choose to call yourself, let’s all celebrate Pride this weekend and remind ourselves that beyond all these labels, we’re all fabulous human beings.

IN other news, this week, the closure of a newspaper in Greater Manchester may have passed you by. The Oldham Chronicle is no more after 163 years. Nearly 50 staff are out of a job, and a community is without its daily newspaper.

Why mention it? Well, it struck me that we, perhaps, rarely stop to consider the depth and breadth of journalism in Jersey. I’m sure those who were on the receiving end of difficult questions or uncomfortable stories will be celebrating the Chronicle’s demise, but it shows that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.

It tickles me that people say ‘oh, I get my news on Facebook’, but those same people don’t consider how that news gets there in the first place – primarily through journalism from trusted sources. And that costs money.

That this island can support a daily newspaper, two TV news services, two radio stations, as well as myriad online news sites, plus a variety of magazines, speaks to the strength of journalism
in Jersey.

I won’t bore you with the list of stories that may never have come to light without the persistence, nosiness, tenacity and – yes – sometimes pure good luck of local reporters who go digging, day in day out.

As a journalist who’s employed by ITV News, it’s my privilege to be given a fortnightly chance to pen a missive here. It’s a reminder to me that our thriving, competitive journalistic environment is good for us all. A free press speaking truth to power is something none of us should ever take for granted.

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