麻豆社

I had the honour of collecting my CBE from Buckingham Palace with my family last week. The significance of my Investiture taking place during Pride Month was not lost on me.

The mere fact that, as a married gay couple, my husband and I were treated the same as other recipients and their families was not one that I took lightly. As a teenager in the 1990s, Section 28 meant schools could not 鈥減romote the teaching鈥�of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship鈥�. Fast forward to today, and gay marriage is so common that I can buy wedding cards for Mr & Mr from the supermarket down the road.
The pace of change in the UK has been phenomenal. And yet, there are constant reminders of how many around the world are denied the freedoms we have here.

Just a few weeks ago, a Pride march in Amritsar in India was cancelled following threats from religious extremists. A figure from the armed Sikh order of Nihangs told reporters that if it went ahead, they would stop it 鈥渋n their own way鈥�. Such threats are not idle. A popular female influencer on social media was killed just last week by extremists in Punjab because of, in their words, 鈥渄efaming Sikh traditions鈥� and using double entendres in her videos. To such extremists, queer people and raunchy women are fair game.

LGBTQ+ activists across the world continue to fight for their rights on a daily basis, with many of them literally putting their lives on the line so they can love who they want to. And for the first time in years, the number of countries where homosexuality is criminalised has actually increased, with Mali and Trinidad & Tobago joining the nations where my husband and I would be imprisoned, or worse.

This rollback of rights is something that the Global LGBTI+ Rights Commission, launched this week, is looking into. It鈥檚 a call to action to queer people to stand up to the challenges of 2025 and act together, collectively.

Amongst his many teachings, Guru Nanak said 鈥淚f you wish to play this game of love, step on to My Path with your head in your hand. If you place your feet on this Path, give Me your head and ignore public opinion.鈥�

That verse has always stood out to me. Although Guru Nanak was talking about humanity鈥檚 relationship with the Almighty, for me, it encapsulates the life of queer people well. To love who we want, we need to be proud of who we are and ignore what others may say. It is a fight for the right to love and exist.
My family means the world to me, even if the world isn鈥檛 entirely ready to accept my family. For me, Pride Month is a call to arms, to show who I am, and defend to the last breath my right to exist in this game of love.

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