South Tyneside Sexual Health supporting #pridemonth2021

Pride month is in full swing, and while it’s an amazing celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s also an important time for us to realize how much work still needs to be done when it comes to fighting for equality and visibility for all people, regardless of sexual orientation. The team at South Tyneside Sexual Health work hard throughout the year to promote inclusivity and each year in June, the service celebrates Pride.

June is Pride Month, and though it may look different this year without the usual parades and gatherings because of the coronavirus, the team still celebrate and support the work of the LGBTQ Community.

Pride Month is an entire month dedicated to the uplifting of LGBTQ voices, a celebration of LGBTQ culture and the support of LGBTQ rights. Throughout the month of June, nationwide, there have traditionally been parades, protests, drag performances, live theatre and memorials and celebrations of life for members of the community who lost their lives to HIV/AIDS.

The rainbow flag is a symbol of LGBTQ pride with each colour on the flag having its own meaning. In the widely recognised six-colour flag, red is symbolic of life, orange is symbolic of spirit, yellow is sunshine, green is nature, blue represents harmony and purple is spirit. In the original eight-colour flag, hot pink was included to represent sex and turquoise to represent magic/art.