The Right Are Claiming Pride is Obsolete in 2026

Spare a thought for the homophobes in 2026. It’s less socially acceptable than it was in, say, the 80s to simply declare one’s irrational and visceral dislike for the gays. Instead, they have to attack queer culture via confected concerns about ‘gender ideology’ and/or declaring that pride events should be cancelled because LGBTQ people have nothing left to fight for. After all, we have gay marriage now, what else could we possibly want? ‘It’s not homophobic to observe that pride began as a protest in very different times, that LGBTQ rights have come a long way since then and therefore the protest has become obsolete’ goes their attempt at logic.

A seasoned expert in this kind of bigot-dog-whistling, Nigel Farage recently stated that Reform is “comfortably at the top of the opinion polls” with male, gay and trans voters, according to reporting by LBC.

“Most of those that I’ve spoken to don’t think there’s any need for Pride Month whatsoever. They’ve got equal treatment, they’ve got equal rights, they’ve got everything they campaigned for decades.” he wanged, adding that many of them “simply can’t see the point” of the event.

Firstly, to fact check the claims being made about Reform’s popularity within the queer community: A recent poll did find Reform is the most popular party amongst male gay and bisexual voters. However, only 25% of this group said they would vote Reform, which means the vast majority – 75% - would not. Incidentally, amongst gay and bisexual women, the Green Party are currently twice as popular, polling at around 50%.

As for the claim that Reform is favoured amongst trans people – According to YouGov, there is ‘no large-scale, published voting intention polls exclusively dedicated to the demographic of transgender voters in the UK’. Far be it from me to suggest that Farage is just saying whatever occurs to him without any foundation in data or observable reality, but given Reform’s stance on trans rights is even more draconian than Labour’s, I do find the assertion of their popularity amongst this group hard to countenance.

But, on to the broader point about where Pride is still necessary in the UK. It is, obviously. And here are the (myriad) reasons:

- Homosexuality was illegal in the UK very much in living memory. It was decriminalised in 1967 in England, 1980 in Scotland and 1982 in Northern Ireland.

- Furthermore, Margaret Thatcher’s despicable ‘Section 28’ legislation, which prohibited teachers from ‘promoting’ homosexuality (meaning in reality LGBTQ lives and issues weren’t mentioned at all in most schools and homophobic bullying was often overlooked) was only repealed in England in 2003 (2000 in Scotland). Many queer people, myself included, still live with the scars of having been educated during that time.

- It remains illegal to be LGBTQ in more than 130 regions worldwide.

- As hard as some campaigners have tried, it’s actually impossible to cut trans people from the queer community. Trans people have always been there alongside LGB people, contributing to culture and participating in protest. Trans people have been targeted by a sustained torrent of misinformation and hatred by UK media and politicians. Analysis shows Britain’s leading newspapers published an average of 9 articles per day about trans people between 2020 and 2025, the vast majority of it hostile in nature. 84% of British trans people feel the UK is an unsafe place to live. Efforts are being made to erase trans people from public life - ECHR guidance sought to stop trans people from peeing outside of their homes whilst legal threats are being made against Park Run and other amateur sporting organisations for being trans inclusive.

- It’s not just about rights, it’s also about attitudes. With the far right in ascendancy in the US and across Europe, what would once have been considered unacceptably dangerous and hateful views have been re-normalised. All minoritised people feel the impact of this, including the LGBTQ community. Violent homophobic and transphobic hate crime reached a historic spike in 2025. During the past twelve months, more than 18,000 people have been physically attacked based on their sexual orientation and more than 3,000 because of their gender identity.

- As the overturn of Roe-vs-Wade in the US demonstrates, rights can never be taken for granted.

Finally, as a texter pointed out when I discussed this on my LBC show on Saturday, even if all of the above wasn’t true, even if Pride was no longer necessary because equality had been achieved, that still doesn’t explain why many on the right work themselves up into such a spittle-flecked lather about it.

So what if it was just a party? Let the queers have their party. Grab your rainbow flag and come and join us if you want. If not, go do something else. Find a hobby that isn’t hating other people. This doesn’t concern you.