More Pride news that has cheered me up.
Here in Italy there have been impressive turnouts at various Pride events over the weekend. Milan, for instance, saw 300,000 people celebrating. That's 10% of the entire population of the city and its surrounding province. It's the 50th anniversary of the first Pride and the first proper event after the pandemic, both of which likely contributed to a larger turnout, but I dare say some worrying pressures put on the community by repressive groups had an effect, too. The recent suicide of a trans teacher after endless abuse has highlighted the long way to go to equality and security.
I can't resist this classic Milan tram in rainbow livery!
(c) Corriere della Sera
I was also pleased to hear of the huge turnout (1,000,000+) in London where I used to live. The UK government's refusal to include trans people in a conversion therapy ban was certainly one theme of the day.
I said I'd share more positive news this month and the huge numbers of people who have been prepared to turn out and be seen and counted is amazing. The LGBTQ+ community is very much bigger than detractors claim and our allies and supporters are growing. There's nobody now who doesn't know relatives, friends or colleagues who are queer in some way.
At London Pride of yesteryear
I feel a boost of confidence since my last post with huge, successful days like these and similar parades and events in smaller centres popping up increasingly. We are a large community; a minority, yes, but not negligible.
Blogger comments
I seem to have solved the issue with being unable to reply to comments on my blog. One or two other blogs still won't let me comment - maybe something to do with cookies. I'll keep working on that. Thank you for all your comments.
A dip in the archives
A photo when sporting a casual look at my local park back in July 2013 when a trans friend, Gillian, came over for the afternoon. You don't always have to look superglamorous and dressing like the other women around has always been, for me, the way to go.
Sue x
Amazing news about Pride and, as to paraphrase your comment, very cheering indeed.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I tend to use my smartphone to read blogs (I imagine most folk do, but it's best not to assume). The blocker for me was third party cookies. It seems Chrome (and there derivatives) switched those off, however Google's CAPTCHA seems to depend on them.
Thanks, Lynn. Hearing about these events did boost my mood.
DeletePersonally, I never have social media apps on my phones but only use laptop/desktop computers to blog, etc. Even so, I think the problem is cookie-related. They're determined to advertise at you!
Sue x
Indeed and it's been a long time since. I've had Facebook et al on a phone. If you're after a secure and privacy friendly messaging app, Signal is rather good, IMO.
DeleteA number of modern browsers are based on Chromium, which Google provide. Edge is based on it, so that have similar cookie handling systems. I'm not sure about Opera, Shruti that was sold on to the Chinese, resulting in Vivaldi being created. There's also Firefox which is nothing to do with Chromium and has a very strong privacy ethic to it. Not as much as TOR, but that's story 🙂
Thanks for that info, Lynn. I have used Firefox as my main browser on the strong recommendation of a friend back in 2008. Works for me. I shall look into other options, too. Sue x
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