Boris Johnson gets dragged for posting a ‘why Pride matters’ video despite… *gestures broadly* everything

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson shared a video about Pride to the official Downing Street account this week – LGBT+ users had some thoughts. 

Johnson’s opening gambit of ‘hi folks’ managed to be wonderfully non-binary inclusive, the same can not be said of his Government. 

 

“Why #Pride matters” 

 

A Prime Ministerial acknowledgment of Pride in the UK from Boris Johnson, the man once unapologetically credited with calling gay people ‘tank top bum boys’, was branded ‘hollow’ by one social media user and poorly received by many others.

Largely due to the Government’s consistent shitting on the equal rights of track record on LGBTQ+ rights. 

 

As the UK celebrates 50 years of Pride in 2022, the current Conservative Government’s failings with regard LGBTQ+ people has been in the spotlight recently due to their collapsed promise of a trans-inclusive ban on conversion therapy.

 

The House of Commons (June 13) debated a petition signed by over 145,000 people calling for a trans-inclusive ban on the archaic practice, after Johnson scrapped plans for a ban covering all LGBTQ+ people.

 

The announcement to exclude trans people came despite the government’s own National LGBT Survey showing one in 10 trans people in the UK have been offered or have undergone conversion therapy, a practice which both Johnson and many members of his Government have openly acknowledged as being abhorrent.

 

The Government’s landmark international LGBT+ ‘Safe to be me’ conference, scheduled to take place this month to coincide with the 50th anniversary of London Pride, had to be cancelled after all the charities pulled out to protest the government’s handling on the matter. 

 

In 2022, after a surge in LGBT+ related hate-crime reports in 2021, the UK plummeted down ILGA-Europe’s continental rankings for LGBT+ rights, falling from first place in 2014 to 14th this year.

 

As you can imagine, a video from the current government telling LGBT+ people ‘Why #Pride matters’ was met with just a *smidge* of incredulity from many.

 

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