Happy Valley Pride is disappointed with the decision made by Calderdale Council to remove the annual flying of the Progress Flag for Pride Month from Halifax Town Hall.
In response to this we arranged for the Pride flag to be displayed over the river in the centre of Hebden Bridge, celebrating each and every member of our LGBTQIA+ community. The flag will remain in place for the duration of June reminding everyone that we are here to stay and, as David Hoyle would say, we are equally beautiful and equally valid.
We would like to thank our funders at Hebden Royd Town Council for their continued support, and thanks to Friends of Dorothy too.
Following conversations last week with Cllr. Sarah Courtney, who is working hard to challenge the council's decision, we want to reach out to Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council to express the importance of showing its visible support towards the LGBTQIA+ community.
The LGBTQIA+ community continue to have to fight for equality in the UK, while being subjected to hate crimes, healthcare disparity, homelessness and bad mental health.
In the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map, which evaluates the legal and policy landscape for LGBTQIA+ people across 49 European countries, the UK now ranks 22nd with an overall equality score of 44%. For four consecutive years, from 2012 to 2015, we were number one so support is needed more than ever. Pride is for everybody in the community to feel proud to live in a country that values and respects everyone equally.
The decision to not fly the Progress Flag is hurtful, scary, and upsetting for our community, because it resembles a threat to return to a UK that, not so long ago, saw homosexuality as a criminal act.
Happy Valley Pride believes that this vital symbol of progress towards LGBTQIA+ equality does not take away visibility from any other group of people in Calderdale. In fact, it resembles equality for all of us in the community. We know that Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council believes that everybody in the community deserves equal rights and to not face discrimination because of their protected characteristics, so we hope our feelings are heard and considered.
We are supporting Councillor Sarah Courtney's Raise a Rainbow campaign, which is raising funds to put Pride banners across Calderdale. For more info and to support the campaign please see this link.
Be Here, Be You, Be Proud!