An article by Holly Stark, North Lincolnshire writer and MA Creative Writing graduate, University of Hull.
June arrives carrying foxgloves.
Purple spires tremble at the edges of roadsides. Bees disappear into their bells and emerge dusted with gold. Somewhere in Hull, someone is attending their first Pride. Somewhere a couple are holding hands on Humber Street. Somewhere a teenager is discovering there is a word for how they have always felt.
The news often tells us stories of conflict. Yet Pride Month offers another opportunity: to celebrate queer joy, community, creativity and belonging.
And there is plenty to celebrate.
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, around one in ten UK adults aged 16–24 now identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. In 2023, an estimated 2.1 million people in the UK identified as LGB, up from 1.2 million in 2018. The numbers have more than doubled in just five years. Perhaps there are not suddenly more queer people. Perhaps there are simply more people who feel safe enough to tell the truth.
For many of us, Pride is not just a parade. It is a reminder that visibility matters. It is a celebration of chosen family, friendship, creativity and community. It is a declaration that we belong.
Hull knows something about belonging.
The city has long been a place of resilience and reinvention. Its queer community is no exception. In July 2026, Pride in Hull will celebrate its 25th anniversary. What began in 2001 as a small community event has grown into one of the Humber region’s biggest LGBTQ+ celebrations, drawing tens of thousands of people to the city. Pride in Hull was even named the UK’s inaugural UK Pride in 2017 during Hull’s year as UK City of Culture.
This year, on Saturday 25th July, rainbow flags will once again sweep through the city centre as thousands gather to celebrate love, diversity and community.
Yet queer life in Hull exists far beyond a single day each year.
You can find it in the city’s LGBTQ+ venues, in drag performances and cabaret nights, in community groups and support networks. You can find it in independent cafés on the Marina, in conversations on Humber Street, in book clubs, creative workshops, theatre audiences and friendship groups.
You can find it in the growing number of cultural organisations actively celebrating queer stories. This year, for example, Hull Truck Theatre is hosting a dedicated Pride Season featuring queer theatre, comedy, drag, cabaret and panel discussions throughout June and July.
Queer community is not only built in nightlife.
It is built over coffee. Over shared meals. Over gardening projects, support groups, poetry readings and mutual aid. It is built every time someone feels safe enough to show up as themselves.
As a queer person myself, I often think about the idea of eco-love: the belief that humans are deeply connected to one another and to the places we inhabit. Queer communities have always understood this. We have created networks of care. We have built families from friendship. We have learned how to nurture one another through difficult times.
In a world that often encourages isolation, that feels quietly radical.
Pride Month is therefore not simply a celebration of survival.
It is a celebration of flourishing.
Of the young person who feels less alone than they might have ten years ago.
Of the older person finally able to live openly.
Of artists, musicians, writers, teachers, parents, carers and neighbours contributing to the life of this city every day.
The queer future is often spoken about as though it lies somewhere ahead of us.
But perhaps it is already here.
It is here in Hull.
It is here in every act of kindness, every conversation, every rainbow flag in a window and every space where people are welcomed exactly as they are.
This July, as Pride in Hull celebrates twenty-five years, thousands of people will gather beneath rainbow flags once again. Some will be attending their first Pride. Others will remember the earliest marches. Together they will create something remarkable: a visible reminder that queer people have always been part of Hull’s story, and will continue to shape its future.
Like the foxgloves, we bloom anyway.