The challenges of facing a year in lockdown for the North East LGBTQ+ community is to be the subject of an exhibition and a book.
Throughout 2020, Northern Pride ran its Life in Lockdown campaign, gathering the stories shared by its community with thanks to the support of one of the world’s leading video game companies, Ubisoft.
Along with announcing plans to share these experiences with the public later this year, Northern Pride has also outlined its post-Covid recovery strategy.
The organisation has created its own roadmap to reaffirm its commitment to supporting the LGBTQ+ family going forward with a whole host of positive actions, including supporting local independent businesses, particularly those run or owned by LGBTQ+ people, along with giving mental health and wellbeing recovery support.
Ste Dunn, Director of Northern Pride, said the organisation was looking at ways of helping people in every area of the community and of all ages: “The economic and health impact of Covid-19 has hit everyone hard, and we are looking at ways that we can be proactive in helping those who run businesses or people who may have lost their jobs.
“We are looking at events such as job fairs and promoting employment opportunities as soon as it is safe to do so.”
The organisation has also been mindful of the fact that both young and old LGBTQ+ people have suffered during the pandemic, often because of feeling isolated.
“We will be supporting our LGBTQ+ youth through family events and events targeted at young queer people, whilst also looking at ways to give support to our older generations,” said Ste.
Other priorities remain, include amplifying black queer voices and supporting the continued fight for trans rights.
Northern Pride announced in February its decision to make this year’s Pride event in July a virtual festival for the second time, believing this was the most responsible decision given there is still uncertainty over the impact of Covid-19.
Ste added: “Our priority has to be to keep everyone safe as we come out of lockdown, and as we plan our own particular roadmap, we want to make sure that we continue to support every part of the LGBTQ+ community.
“We have now had a year of exceptionally tough times for everyone, but we are going to do everything we can to help steer us to a much more optimistic future.”
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