Happy Pride!

Today, there’s the LGBTQIA+ pride in Paris, as a fervent ally of this community I wanted to honour them this week!

Long called gay pride, today we only say pride, to bring together everyone and no longer just homosexuals.
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And for those unfamiliar with the term LGBTQIA+, it means: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and more, as the acronym can have even more categories, in its full form:
LBTQQIAAP
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One of the A's stands for Ally, like me, for all those who support equal rights.
But if you only remember the first one, that's great!
 
(The photos in this article were taken in Paris in June 2019)

While many cities around the world have already celebrated it, more will take place in the summer, an event always eagerly awaited and even more so this year as many were cancelled last year.

The first march took place in June 1970 in the United States, to commemorate the Stonewall riots in New York.

Indeed, on June 28, 1969, a police raid took place at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village (NYC). A bar frequented by gay and transgender people. Recall that at that time in New York, it was forbidden to serve alcohol to homosexuals, as well as to cross-dress.

Only this time, the police face a rebellion. Five days of riots followed. 2,000 participants and 400 policemen were reported during the first night.

This event undoubtedly gave birth to the LGBT movement in the United States and around the world.

This is why June is considered Pride Month in many countries, and every year since 1970 more and more cities around the world have joined the movement.

You probably noticed this month, small multicoloured flags on the internet, social media, some store windows ...
This is the flag of the LGBTQIA + community.

It was created by an American, Gilbert Baker in 1978. The first 2 flags were hand-stitched & dyed by the artist and used in the march of San Francisco on June 25, 1978.

Each colour represents a particular word:
Red                        LIFE
Orange                 HEALING
Yellow                  SUNLIGHT
Green                   NATURE
Blue                      HARMONY
Violet                    SPIRIT
 
Originally the flag had 8 stripes, the pink (sex) and turquoise (magic) have been removed to facilitate mass-production.

However, the colour brown (inclusivity) and black (diversity) were added in 2017 for more inclusion towards people of colour.

The video below tells the story of this flag very well:

In my article Superwomen 3, I talked extensively about same-sex marriage around the world, as well as the right to parenthood, and all the inequalities that still exist.

I recalled in my article Superwomen 5 that lesbians in France are not allowed to freeze their eggs or to have IVF (in-vitro fertilization).

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of talk about donating blood, because in most countries in the world, homosexuals and bisexuals are not allowed to donate blood or under certain conditions such as several months of abstinence before blood donation. (Australia, United States, France…).
The UK made a change to their law about ten days ago, allowing people in a monogamous relationship for more than 3 months to donate blood without restriction.
France is expected to allow anyone over the age of 18 to be an unrestricted donor next year.

Still too many laws are unequal and inadequate today, it is up to everyone to support equal rights for all.

Today is also the birthday of my godchildren, Hannah and Noam, the twins of 2 amazing dads!

I witnessed the difficult journey for them to become a family, the laws, the disappointments, the failures and finally these 2 miracles.

Love has no gender, colour, religion, border. Love is Love.

So today, I'm not just celebrating their birth, but also determination, courage and love ...
I am proud of you, I love you!!

Reread my articles from the Superwomen Series here: LINK.

But also, all the articles of My Solo Wedding in Santorini: LINK.
 
No article next week, it's my birthday on the 1st of July!! I'm going to celebrate for a few days...
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Next Post: Saturday July 10
 
Happy Pride!!
 
Love & Joy,
L.