Pride…What Has It Got To Do With Knitting? Everything.

June is Pride Month, a time which commemorates the Stonewall Riots of 1969, considered to be the most important event for the gay liberation movement leading to the modern fight for LGBTQ+ rights.

Baa Baa Brighouse is an inclusive business which welcomes people of all sexual orientations and in order to show our support for the LGBTQ+ community at this time, we changed our logo on our social media pages to Baa Baa wearing his Pride jumper.

Unfortunately, a rainbow sheep appears to have upset a few people and although we haven’t directly received any negative comments ourselves, we see you leaving our Facebook page. We see you unfollowing our Instagram account. We see you unsubscribing from our newsletter. We see you.

It saddens us that still so many narrow minded individuals inhabit our planet. Love is love after all.

In these turbulent political and social times, it has become even more important to denounce bigotry in all its forms.

It is never acceptable to say, “I’m a Christian, so please keep sexual orientation out of knitting” or “I have gay friends but they don’t need to scream their sexuality from the rooftops”.

Evidently those with such opinions speak from a place of hypocrisy and privilege. They have never had to defend who or what they are on a daily basis in ordinary situations that a large proportion take for granted.

So, Pride…what has it got to do with knitting? The answer is everything. Knitting is an ordinary everyday hobby enjoyed by all kinds of people, not least the LGBTQ+ community and they should be able to talk about it openly with fellow knitters without fear of rejection, humiliation and abuse.

For instance, if John, a gay man, wants to have a conversation in person or online about a sweater he is knitting for his boyfriend, he should be able to do that without wondering whether or not he will be accepted. Straight people do it all the time without a second thought but it isn’t so simple for people of other sexual orientations.

At Baa Baa Brighouse, we want the LGBTQ+ community to know that it is that simple – our website, our social media pages or if you interact with us at Knit & Natter sessions or at yarn shows, these are all safe spaces where you will be welcomed, respected and valued. Always.