Students celebrate at Portsmouth Pride

Students showed their support for LGBTQIA+ equality at this year’s Portsmouth Pride, which returned to Southsea Common for a celebration of acceptance and inclusivity.

As ever, the event kicked off with a parade along the seafront. It was estimated that over  1,500 people took part in the parade, which culminated on Southsea Common with a host of musical artists and performances that the crowd was able to enjoy while basking in the warm weather under sunny skies.

Pride at the University

At UoP we want to celebrate, but also reflect on how we can all be better allies and contribute to creating a culture where everyone can be themselves and where homophobia, transphobia and biphobia of any kind is challenged and addressed.

We would love to use this month to ask every member of our community to think about what you can do to help us achieve LGBTQIA+ equity.

Below is a list of ideas to help inspire you:  

• Learn to be comfortable “calling out” and “calling in” other people’s homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic behaviour, which includes things such as: derogatory jokes, slurs, unacceptable and/or unwanted behaviour, intrusive questions, deliberately ignoring someone’s preferred pronoun(s), and outing trans people to others. If you see anything discriminatory and want to report it anonymously, or with your name, you can do so via the University’s Report and Support Tool.
• Introduce yourself with your pronouns to create a more inclusive and safer environment for LGBTQIA+ students who want to do the same. If you wish to make your support for the LGBTQIA+ community visible, you could also consider adding your pronouns to your email signature and Zoom display name.
• Get one of our rainbow lanyards to show that the University is a space where we hope people can be themselves and not have to worry about facing any violence or discrimination for that. These can be purchased in the UPSU shop.
• The LGBT+ Society is a social space where you can be yourself and proud and aims to create a safe space to help fellow students find a like-minded and accepting community to be a part of. You can get involved via Discord, Instagram and Facebook.