This is the third time that West Lindsey has raised the rainbow flag. From a handful of participants, today’s event has attracted dozens of people, and more district councillors than ever before attended the event.
The first chairman to accept raising the flag was Cllr Steve England, who performed this twice. This year, the duty was handed to Cllr Stephen Bunney, now chairman of the District Council.
Newly appointed Chairman of the Council, Cllr Stephen Bunney, raised the flag just after 10am, 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 Cllr 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.”