This Saturday, Bristol Pride celebrated its 10th anniversary, and the Panthers were proud to march in the biggest parade yet. What's more, thanks to our friends at Bristol City Community Trust joining us, this was the first time one of the city's professional clubs had a presence at pride!
For many of the team, having the city's top-ranked football team marching alongside shows how far we have come in terms of LGBT inclusion in sport - particularly in the light of the England Lionesses' fantastic performances in the World Cup, where so many out players shone on the field. The City web team got into the spirit, as many of the Panthers were pleased to wake up to find an article celebrating City's participation in Pride on the Bristol City homepage.
We were even joined at the end of the march by one of the city's MPs - Thangam Debbonaire!
Pride still matters to so many of us in the LGBT community in Bristol. It's a time when we can both commemorate the huge leaps forwards we have made towards equality, while also recognising that there is so much more to do before our sexualities and gender identities are fully accepted and celebrated. Before Pride, we therefore filmed this video, which you can share on Facebook and Twitter. Because #PrideMatters.
A happy Bristol Pride to everyone who took part, and a huge thank you in particular to the wonderful organisers who made such a success of the march and the new location on the downs. Special plaudits must go to Pete who did a lot of the organisation behind Panthers' presence at this year's parade (including the assembly of our fantastic rainbow and trans flags). We're looking forward to next year's festival and having Bristol City join us once again!