On Pride month in Havering

Let's start with the honest part.

I am a born again evangelical Christian, meaning that I have a complex relationship with LGBT+ Pride.

This blog is not to discuss any theology, because whatever your view, the LGBT+ community deserve the same love from us as anyone else.

Pride month has become a hotspot in the latest round of the manufactured culture wars. We're seeing people on the right of politics trying to 'cancel' it and Havering recently made a last minute decision to stop flying the Pride flag.

Apparently flags like this, or the Ukrainian flag, no longer belong on municipal buildings in the UK.

I disagree.

I am not a member of the LGBT community, I have very few gay friends (mostly because I keep my social circle very small). In fact, ironically, most of the gay people I know well are local Reform councillors or senior politicians!

However, I witness regularly horrific homophobia and am often also the recipient of homophobic abuse.

It is this behaviour that convinces me Havering should still mark Pride.

We live in 2026 and you'd think it was 1926 from the language people still use. Just last week a Facebook troll called me a 'rent boy' as a slur, amongst some other pretty vile statements. We see trans women attacked at horrifying levels, we see gay men victims of violent attacks (these right-wing trolls never seem to show the same hatred towards gay women, I wonder why?). And I must say, some of the local 'news outlets' do a horrendous job or taking down racist and homophobic comments.

Whatever one's view on homosexuality, or transness, we can all agree that people do not deserve to be the victims of violent attacks. Physical or verbal or via social media.

Pride started as a movement to gain rights. Whilst Pride has an element of 'celebrating sexuality', which is where my faith creates the complex relationship, at its core is about highlighting the horrific behaviour still directed at the LGBT+ community.

We would not accept this behaviour towards anyone else.

Marking Pride, as a municipality, is a marker to say "we, as a community, stand against discrimination". Which makes Havering’s last minute decision to not fly the flag particularly painful for the LGBT+ community.

They are already facing abuse. Many are made homeless due to their sexuality. Many have faced violence due to their sexuality.

In England and Wales alone, police recorded more than 18,700 hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and more than 3,800 motivated by transgender identity in the year to March 2025. These are not relics of a bygone age. They are happening now, in modern Britain.

The community is fearful.

Proverbs 31:8–9 says: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."

It doesn't add a caveat, "unless they live a life you disagree with".

Jesus spent time living with and standing up for the marginalised and challenging those in authority. Especially the religious leaders.

I, as a Christian, do not have to have an affirmative view of homosexuality in order to stand up for the LGBT+ community. And I refuse to share my beliefs on that topic to anyone who does not know me well. It's a longer conversation than one could imagine.

Flying the Pride flag is a way to show that we reject exclusion and violence and discrimination towards the LGBT+ community. A community living in fear.

Havering should send a message, that you are loved and welcome here, whoever you are.

I congratulate those who turned up to the town hall for an impromptu pride earlier this week, in defiance of the council. Maybe some of the gay councillors and politicians could have turned up?

The post they shared attracted the homophobic abuse. Yet again. And our local Facebook group moderators do too little to censor that abuse.

Until members of the LGBT+ community can live their lives without abuse, we need Pride.