June is Pride Month and to mark the occasion, KCC is flying the Rainbow Flag at County Hall in Maidstone.
The Chairman of Kent County Council, Ann Allen MBE said: “I am proud that Kent County Council is once again showing our support to the LGBTQ+ community by flying the Pride Flag at County Hall in Maidstone.
“The flag represents acceptance and togetherness and a way to celebrate our community in all its diversity. Across the world, the Rainbow Flag is seen as a sign of hope and of inclusion, and it is recognised as offering a sense of belonging wherever it is seen.
“We are working hard to make Kent a place that embraces the LGBTQ+ community and we will continue to do so.”
June is the month chosen to celebrate Pride as it was June 1969 that saw the Stonewall Riots in New York, which resulted in changes to gay rights in America and elsewhere.
Pride month signifies people coming together in friendship and showing their support for the LGBTQ+ community. It is also an opportunity to celebrate how far gay rights have come, even though there is still much to be done.
Pride month offers the opportunity to teach tolerance and helps to give people an understanding of pride history by remembering how damaging homophobia can be.
Mrs Allen added: “Pride month helps us to recognise how far we have come and that there is still much to do.
“I am often reminded of the words of Sir Winston Churchill, who said: What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone? How else can we put ourselves in harmonious relation with the great verities and consolations of the infinite and the eternal? And I avow my faith that we are marching towards better days.
“I am grateful to colleagues in Kent Pride, who have sent messages of support that go some way to show how much the Pride Flag means to their members.
“I am also grateful to the Kent County Council’s Rainbow Group, who will be posting a number of recordings and videos from their membership during the month.”