KINGDOM PRIDE IN KERRY
county! We’ve already seen more places in Kerry than ever raising the rainbow flag. As a place to grow up in, it’s a common experience - for many across rural Ireland I expect - to feel like if you want to be your full, LGBT+ self, you’ll have to move. To a university, to a city, to another country - just move! Hopefully, more and more, that feeling is lessened. The more we embrace our beloved community in public, the more our children will understand they, too, are beloved. The more we say: you can grow here, become a brilliant person here, and stay here for as long as you want - because you’re safe, and accepted. Perhaps we are a few years off that future for now. But with each passing year, each passing parade, each brave individual that comes forward to claim they too are LGBTQ+, that future is a little less distant. There are so many LGBT+ groups in Kerry nowadays too! For children, there is Jigsaw (12-25), Transformers and the KDYS group. For those not eligible for youth groups, there is Trans Kerry support group, ScEEN in Kerry, LINC Out Kerry, Gay Project, and now us as well.
organisations working in Kerry. These organisations are the Listowel Family Resource Center, Black Lives Matter Kerry, Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), Jigsaw Kerry, the KDYS, Kerry Adolescent Counselling Service, TransparenCI, HSE Social Inclusion Unit, Kerry Travellers Health & Community Development Project, LINC Out Kerry, and Gay Project. With all these groups on board, we attempt to bring the people of Kerry the very best Pride possible. It’s run by the same people who brought you Pride Inside last year, which included the county of Kerry, Killarney Pride, Limerick Pride, Black Pride Ireland, Galway Pride, Sligo Pride, and Mayo Pride. And, yes, the people who worked with Todrick Hall to promote the event, leading to the most iconic pronunciation of Irish counties and cities one has ever clapped ears on. (Sleego and Khhhhillorney being among them, representing Sligo and Killarney respectively. We’ve told the tourism offices that if Todrick Hall says otherwise, they might as well change the names now. Haven’t heard back yet.)
Kingdom Pride in Kerry would never have happened without the support, the generosity, and the kindness of Cork Pride. It’s been such an honour and very heartwarming to see what support Prides have given one another in the past years, especially with COVID looming in the distance, threatening the end to many rural and smaller Prides. We couldn’t have asked for better neighbours, despite the fact ye sometimes give us a run for our money on the auld football side of things. Thank you Cork Pride for the amazing work ye do, and to yourself reading this - have a wonderful Pride.
It’s been a funny auld year for Prides across Ireland, given how difficult it is to gather. However, despite the odds and the difficulties, many Prides have pushed forward to attempt the impossible, and deliver something that represents the LGBT+ community in all its colourful fun and glory. It’s led to a lot of ingenuity, and in Kerry, it’s led to a new Pride organization launching. We’ve been supported along the way by the fabulous Cork Pride, to whom we are forever grateful! Kingdom Pride in Kerry is a new organization, set up to deliver Pride to the Kingdom of Kerry. The dates of the festival in 2021 are the 16th to the 18th of July. (Good things come in small packages, after all!) Kingdom Pride is being supported by an Advisory Group made up of community & statutory
Until we next see you,
Kingdom Pride in Kerry Committee Find us on social media (FB/Insta/Twitter) @thekingdompride
This year, we hope to see people in Kerry recognizing our efforts across the county, which is difficult to do - it’s a big
www.corkpride.com
#CorkPride2021
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