Pride Month (June) celebrates the LGBTQ+ community and recognizes their culture, and long history of fighting for equality. At our recent Ock Poets meeting at Abingdon Library, we read some poems by Mary Jean Chan. Chan was born in Hong Kong and teaches at Brookes University in Oxford, and co-edited the Penguin Book 100 Queer Poems.
In Oxford at the weekend there was a Pride festival, and in previous years there has been an event in Abingdon. Perhaps there will be one. In any case, colourful flags flutter in solidarity on the County Hall roof in Abingdon,
and above Abingdon School.
Charity shop windows also have colourful displays during Pride Month.
At Sue Ryder, some staff wear a rainbow badge. The badge means ‘I’m someone you can talk to about LGBTQ+ identities.’
The flag is flying outside Miele by the Marcham Road roundabout as well, I can’t think of another time it wasn’t the generic miele flags flying there.
2021 census data on sexual orientation for the Vale of White Horse District Council:
– over 6% of people did not answer the question
– approx. 91% of people said they were straight or heterosexual
– under 3% of people said they were LGBTQ+