“I will constantly, constantly fight for my right to be who I am.”
This video from Roly West isn’t your typical Pride Month content. It’s a hard watch, but that’s because of how vitally important it is. Roly opens his video by reminding us that despite the many, many steps forward the world has made towards acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, homosexuality is still illegal in 60 countries. And what’s worse is that in ten of those countries the punishment is death.
Speaking directly to camera with no flashy editing to sugarcoat matters, Roly lists and details a number of homophobic and transphobic attacks that have taken place this year worldwide.
He’s visibly angry when talking about this and rightly so – members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially in the UK, are often told that we no longer need to fight for equality and acceptance. Many believe that the fight ended when same sex marriage was legalised, but this just isn’t the case.
In fact, as Roly points out, “in the UK, LGBTQ+ hate crimes have risen by 80% within the last 3 years”. Many of the attacks he mentions took place in ‘more developed’ countries like the USA and Germany. Roly truly highlights in this video why celebrating Pride Month and LGBTQ+ pride in general is still important and relevant in 2018.
Even though Pride month is over, remember to remain proud of who you are and support your LGBTQ+ siblings year round! Plus, there’s still plenty of Pride events to check out throughout the summer so wave those rainbow flags and laugh in the face of adversity (whilst staying safe!).
Want more?
Melanie Murphy has five fascinating facts about bisexuality for you to discover. Alternatively, Eman Kellam plays a game of Never Have I Ever with his dad!
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