Rainbow flag raised in Gainsborough to celebrate Pride month

Newly appointed chairman of the council, Coun Stephen Bunney, raised the flag just after 10am on Friday, June 2, accompanied by member of the Gainsborough LGBT+ group, Psy Tesla, director of Planning, Regeneration and Communities at West Lindsey District Council, Sally Grindrod-Smith and customer services officer, Brad Bishell.

Chairman Coun Bunney said: “People who haven’t fitted into sexual or gender norms, throughout history, have been sidelined, and even persecuted.

“LGBT+ Pride Month gives us an opportunity to acknowledge their contribution to society and to remind us that LGBT+ people, whether they identified that way or not, have always existed.

"With one in five LGBT+ people in the UK experiencing a hate crime every year, we should take a moment to find comfort in the work of those who spoke up and who lived with love and joy, despite difficult circumstances in which they lived.”

Also speaking at the ceremony, Psy Tesla, said: “I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in making this flag raising happen.

"As a community we are looked upon as non-members of society because of our life choices, but we are still part of this community and always will be.”

Pride is celebrated in the month of June, as that was the month when the Stonewall riots took place in 1969 in the United States.