Pride Month

Each June Queen Mary celebrates Pride Month and showcases a programme of events and initiatives and provides resources, to mark this important month in the Awareness and Inclusion calendar.

Pride Month is about LGBTQIA+ communities coming together in celebration and solidarity, and takes place during the month of June, to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, June 1969.

Pride Month is often marked with parades, protest marches, poetry readings, public speaking, educational / awareness raising sessions and many other events.

As well as celebrating, Pride Month is a time for the LGBTQIA+ community and allies to continue to raise awareness of the inequalities and discrimination faced by LGBTQIA+ communities around the world and to campaign for equal rights and freedoms for all. 

Last year, in 2022, the UK reached an especially important milestone in LGBTQIA+ history as it marked ’50 years of Pride’ in the UK and the 50th anniversary of the first UK Gay Pride organised by the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). A year later, we reflect on “What next?” at a time when there is still much to celebrate but hard won LGBTQIA+ rights become increasingly under threat.

Celebrating Pride Month in an intersectional way is vital as it recognises that overlapping identities impact the experiences and lives of LGBTQIA+ people throughout history and today.

As examples, a woman who identifies as a lesbian may face a combination of homophobia and misogyny; people who identify as both LGBTQIA+ and an ethnic minority may suffer homophobia, biphobia or transphobia in combination with racism, while disabled members of the LGBTQIA+ community may also experience ableism. This further highlights why intersectional approaches to Pride Month are imperative for us as a community.

Queen Mary University of London seeks to be the most inclusive university of its kind, anywhere, by 2030. We are proud to be a university that opens the doors of opportunity to anyone with the potential to succeed. Queen Mary's work to create an inclusive environment for our LGBTQIA+ staff and students is underpinned in our People, Culture, and Inclusion Enabling Plan.

“At Queen Mary we are committed to celebrating and supporting our LGBTQIA+ staff and students and this year I am pleased to introduce Queen Mary’s LGBTQIA+ Pride Month celebrations.

‘Pride’ is one of Queen Mary’s core values; we are proud to highlight our own and others’ successes. Throughout June we will be celebrating the diversity and accomplishments of staff and students across our LGBTQIA+ community and those of other inspiring and innovative LGBTQIA+ individuals. Our values also recognise that we are stronger together than individually, and this Pride Month we reflect on progress made through the unity of the LGBTQIA+ community.

I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to engage with activities throughout Pride Month and consider how we can each take action, to contribute towards our journey of becoming the most inclusive university of our kind, anywhere.”

- Dr Philippa Lloyd, Vice-Principal (Policy and Strategic Partnerships)