Pride Needs Strong Foundations: Why LGBTQ+ Communities Deserve More Than Visibility

Issue 55 Forever with Pride 1st June 2026 Pride has always meant more to me than a date in the calendar.

Of course, it is joy. It is music, banners, glitter, chosen family, protest signs, dancing, laughing and, for a moment, feeling like the world has made a little more room for us. But Pride is also memory. It is resistance. It is care. It is a reminder that LGBTQ+ communities have always had to build what we needed, often with very little, because nobody else was going to do it for us.

My own journey in LGBTQ+ work started in Sheffield, where I have spent much of my life living, working, organising, and building community. I was one of the co-founders of Sheffield’s first Pride event, and that experience shaped so much of what came next. It showed me the power of visibility, but it also taught me that being visible is not the same as being safe, supported or heard.

Behind every Pride event, youth group, helpline, campaign, social space, community night and piece of advocacy, there are people doing the work. Often unpaid. Often underfunded. Often giving far more than they have spare because they know how much it matters.

That is the thread that runs through everything I do. I care about making LGBTQ+ communities better resourced, better connected and better heard.

I currently work as Head of Partnerships and Development at LGBT+ Consortium, the UK’s national infrastructure body for LGBT+ voluntary and community organisations. My work focuses on building partnerships, strengthening income, and helping the wider LGBT+ sector become more sustainable. Consortium’s members include hundreds of organisations across the UK, from national charities to tiny grassroots groups doing vital work in their own communities.

Alongside this, I am Chair of Proud Changemakers, a national network created to elevate, advocate for and support LGBTQIA+ voices across civil society. I am also a writer, columnist, and campaigner, including writing about LGBTQ+ life and rights for Exposed Magazine. Over the years I have led SAYiT, Sheffield’s LGBTQ+ youth charity, organised community events, spoken on LGBTQ+ issues and, every now and then, swapped strategy documents for a DJ booth.

Those different roles might sound varied, but to me they are all part of the same work. They are about creating space. They are about shifting power. They are about making sure LGBTQ+ people are not only seen but properly supported.

That feels especially important now. Many LGBTQ+ people, particularly trans and non-binary people, are living through a time that feels frightening, exhausting, and uncertain. The public conversation about our lives can be relentless. Our rights, safety and dignity are too often treated as a debate, rather than something that affects real people, families, and communities every single day.

In moments like this, Pride matters. Joy matters. Visibility matters. But the foundations underneath all that matter too.

We need strong LGBTQ+ organisations. We need youth workers, community leaders, campaigners, researchers, fundraisers, peer supporters, and volunteers. We need places where people can celebrate but also places where they can go when they are scared, isolated, questioning, grieving, angry or in need of help.

We also need funders, businesses, public bodies, and allies to understand that supporting LGBTQ+ communities is not just about rainbow logos in June. It is about year-round commitment. It is about listening to our communities, trusting our organisations, investing in our work, and standing with us when things are difficult, not only when it is easy to celebrate.

So, my message this Pride month is this. Find the LGBTQ+ groups doing the work near you. Follow them. Share their messages. Donate if you can. Volunteer if you have the time. Invite them into conversations before decisions are made. Stand with trans people. Challenge misinformation. Celebrate queer joy but also support the people and organisations making that joy possible.

Pride began as protest, grew into celebration, and remains one of the most powerful expressions of community we have.

But if we want our communities to thrive, we need more than visibility.

We need foundations strong enough to hold us all.

You can find out more about my work and connect with me at www.heatherpaterson.co.uk or via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/heathermpaterson.