Today is the 50th anniversary of the UK’s first official Pride march, and so I wanted to share my unwavering support for and solidarity with LGBTQ+ people in Norwich and around the country.

Norwich has in many ways been a trailblazing champion of Pride. Norwich Pride is one of the largest and longest established groups, and has purposely resisted commercialisation to keep Pride in our city’s grassroots.

Here in Norwich, we never take for granted the welcoming and tolerant city we are, and our collective motivation to preserve and defend that status.

This spirit will be all the more important in the coming months and years ahead. We are faced with the global rise of the far right, where we are seeing a small but well funded movement taking control of Governments and courts, and initiating a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, racism, and attacks on women’s rights, as their starting points.

There are more of us who believe in a society based on compassion and justice, then there are of those who want to take us back to the dark ages. We must stand side by side with our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender siblings in their fights for basic rights and services. These fights are all our fights.

You can start today by supporting the campaign to ban conversion therapy: https://norwichpride.org.uk/ban-conversion-therapy/