The Fabrics of Freedom: Symbols of Identity and Resistance
Lennox Fitchett reflects on the importance of Pride.
The 2025 WorldPride theme, “Fabric of Freedom,” invites the LGBT+ community and its allies to reflect on unity, resilience, and self-expression. It celebrates the vibrancy of our identities while calling for global solidarity. The WorldPride website highlights how fabrics — from protest banners to pride flags — have long served as symbols of identity and resistance. Like a tapestry, our community is woven from diverse threads, each contributing to a stronger, more beautiful whole.
These symbols inspire hope and joy for many — yet sadly, they still provoke ignorance and hostility across the world, where societies find themselves not only unaccepting, but often anti- LGBT+ at both a local and national-level. This has frequently led to the maltreatment of LGBT+ people, from bullying and discrimination to targeted violence.
My own experience with Pride and its connected celebrations have admittedly had their ups and downs: from witnessing anti-pride protestors heckle parade-goers, to crying with laughter with friends into the night.
Whilst I’d witnessed Pride celebrations from a distance, I’d never formally attended a parade or any such celebration, until my first experience with Manchester Pride some years ago. I took the opportunity to volunteer in the parade itself, supporting an LGBTQ+ homeless charity called AKT; their services had been lifesaving to me in times past, so my initial reservation was overcome by the urge to give back to a cause that continued to support young people across the UK. I had an all-too common experience; what was once a ‘dirty secret’ and an event I feared, became an undoubted overwhelming feeling of belonging, love, and affirmation.
Accompanied by my closest friend, I was surrounded by not only celebration, but resistance and shelter against a world that didn’t always want us to exist, and in some cases, still doesn’t. The literal fabrics of freedom that we held – banners, posters, and more, were symbolic of our connection, and the other connections we had to those who empowered us – our allies.
Despite the considerable progress made across the world, we’re in a time where our rights are still challenged and we can’t guarantee they won’t be rolled back, even in countries which are considered more supportive of our identities. Take for instance, recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Uganda, the dismantling of EDI programmes across the United States, and an 186% increase on hate crime against transgender people in the UK over the last five years. We are far from where we need to be before we can say that equality has been achieved.
Like the fabric threads of the tapestry, each of us plays a role in shaping a freer, more inclusive world. Whether in the workplace or beyond, the power of advocacy and allyship are stitches that hold our fabric of freedom together. Pride today may look and feel different to what it did before, but the message is still the same. Pride continues to prompt conversation enabling progress, providing an opportunity for members of the community and its allies to show support, actively challenging opposition, and discrimination.
Lennox Fitchett is Consultant, Executive Interim - Place & Housing.
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