1. Dublin Bus’ Proud Dads

25 years after homosexuality was decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland, Dublin pride took place last Saturday, 30th June. Tears have been jerked around the UK and Ireland after a video of Dublin Bus’ ‘Proud Dads’ circulated online, showing proud fathers supporting and celebrating their LGBTQ children. Dressed in rainbow coloured clothing, the proud fathers surprised their children at their doors before taking to Dublin Bus’ ‘The Proudest Bus’, with the tagline ‘Get on board with Pride’. Go, dads!

2. Gay protesters dress in multi-coloured football shirts to protest persecution

Six activists from @FELGTB used colourful football shirts to protest Russia's homophobic discrimination. The group donned jerseys from Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia and visited iconic sites in Russia and stood beside Russian police. The protest is part of the project called Hidden Flag, which aims to travel ‘to every corner to fight against a struggle that will never be silenced.’ This protest movement fights to represent LGBTQ members who reside in countries in which homosexuality continues to be persecuted, sometimes even by jail sentences, and in which the rainbow flag is forbidden such as Russia.

3. When we learned of the first same-sex wedding in the extended Royal Family

Queen Elizabeth's cousin, Lord Ivar Mountbatten, is to be the first member of the extended Royal Family to have a gay wedding. Lord Ivar will marry his fiancee James Coyle in a private chapel in Devon and his ex-wife Lady Penny, with whom he has three daughters, will be giving him away. Penny said, ‘It was the girls’ idea, it makes me feel quite emotional. I’m really very touched’. Penny is immensely supportive of her ex-husband’s relationship and, in an interview with the Daily Mail, said she was always aware of his bisexuality. She commented that her ex-husband has ‘changed as a man since he came out’ and that his fiancee, James, is ‘hugely responsible for that because he’s so much fun’.

4. When a gay couple recreated their Pride photo in the same spot 24 years later.

Cardello and his partner Kurt English, 52, are now married and have just celebrated their 25th anniversary together.

5. The Sainsbury’s Pride kissathon

When a security guard at Sainsbury's told same-sex couple Thomas Rees and Joshua Bradwell that they were "behaving inappropriately" for holding hands in the store after a customer complaint, the LGBT community responded by holding a big kiss-in protest in the same spot! Thomas Rees said in a speech in the Sainsbury’s branch, ‘I urge you all not to be put off by what happened to myself and Josh on Monday, but instead I ask you to go out, hold hands and hug with Pride because love is love!’

6. When a Christian group apologised for the harm inflicted upon LGBTQ members by Christians at the annual Pride march in Marikina City, Philippines.

The pastor of the Church of Freedom in Christ Ministries (FICM), an Evangelical and Pentecostal church in Makati, told BuzzFeed News, "We are apologizing for the way Christians have hurt the LGBT community, especially by using the Bible in condemning and judging them,"

"I used to believe that God condemns homosexuals, but when I studied the scriptures, especially the ones that we call 'clobber scriptures' that are being cherry-picked from the Bible to condemn LGBT people, I realized that there's a lot to discover, including the truth that God is not against anyone," Paminiano said. "God does not discriminate against people based on gender."

"We pray that more and more Christians will act, speak, and love the LGBT people like Jesus would," he said.

Happy Pride one and all!

Hero source