Pride Month: Our History, Our Mental Health, Our Stories

Pride Month means something different to all of us. And often, it means something different to the same person, year after year.

Some years I've admittedly felt cynical and slightly irritated, watching businesses slap a rainbow on their logo throughout the month of June, without any real commitment to the community behind it.

Other years I've found myself immersed in queer spaces, leaving with a full heart, new connections and blurry memories. Some years Pride Month has been a quieter, more reflective time. A moment to sit with who I am and feel genuinely grateful to be queer in an era where I can live openly and proudly.

Often, in those quieter moments, I will feel a deep sadness. A heartbreak for all those who we have lost to AIDS, to violence and to suicide. To those who have suffered of isolation, oppression, stigma and internalised shame. I also feel angry at the ways the world seems to be moving backwards in many ways. At the erosion of hard-won rights, the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and the very real ways queer people are becoming less safe in places that once felt like progress. Pride Month can shine a light on how far we've come, and at the same time, remind us of how much further we still have to go.

Lately, I've been lucky. I am fortunate to be surrounded by community, where every day feels like Pride Month. A safe, affirming queer bubble where I don't have to leave myself at the door. Not everyone has that. And I don't take it for granted. What strikes me, looking back across those different experiences, is that all of them are valid. The cynicism, the celebration, the affirmation, the grief, the anger, the everyday pride… All of this is what Pride Month means to me.

So… What Is Pride Month?

Pride was born not from a desire to party, but from a refusal to disappear.

In the early hours of 28 June 1969, the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, was raided by police. It wasn't an unusual occurrence. Raids on LGBTQ+ spaces were routine. While queer people had been pushing back against discrimination and queerphobia long before that night, the Stonewall riots became a pivotal moment, when people came together to fight back against a culture that had criminalised their very existence. Leading the charge were some of the most marginalised members of the community including transgender women of colour, sex workers, and lesbians. The uprising that followed lasted several days and has since been marked as a turning point in LGBTQ+ history.

Australia has its own version of that story. On 24 June 1978, around 2,000 people marched through Oxford Street in Sydney in what became Australia's first gay and lesbian pride march. Police arrested 53 people that night. Their names were published in the newspaper. It was an act intended to shame them. Instead, it galvanised a community. That march became the foundation of what is now the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, one of the largest Pride events in the world.

It took until 1997 for homosexuality to be decriminalised across all Australian states, with Tasmania the last to change its laws. And as recently as 2017, LGBTQ+ Australians were asked to justify their right to marry in a national postal survey, a process that research has since confirmed caused measurable psychological harm to the community.

Pride month is the legacy of the people who have come before us who insisted on existing fully and openly.

How can Pride Help our Mental Health?

The psychological benefits of community connection are well-documented. Research consistently shows that LGBTQ+ people who feel a strong sense of belonging experience better mental health outcomes, such as lower rates of depression and anxiety, greater resilience, and a stronger sense of self.

This is particularly significant in the Australian context. The Writing Themselves In 4 report from La Trobe University (2021) found that LGBTQ+ young people in Australia continue to experience significantly higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation than their peers. Community belonging and identity affirmation are among the strongest protective factors against these outcomes.

Pride Month serves us as a reminder: that you are not alone, that your identity is worth celebrating, and that there is a community that has fought hard, and continues to fight, for your right to exist fully.

Pride Looks Different for Everyone

There is a version of Pride that involves dressing up, going out and celebrating. There is also a version of Pride that looks like a quiet dinner with chosen family. A phone call with a friend who gets it. A book by a queer author read in bed on a Sunday morning. A small internal acknowledgment: “I accept myself as I am” The point is, there is no one way to celebrate Pride Month.  

For LGBTQ+ Australians living in rural and regional areas, Pride can feel particularly distant. The Private Lives 3 report (La Trobe University, 2020) highlighted that LGBTQ+ people outside major cities experience greater social isolation and have less access to affirming services and community. If you're marking Pride Month from a small town, your experience is just as legitimate.

For those who are not fully out, Pride can bring a complicated mix of longing and self-protection. For older community members, it may carry grief for lost friends and endured hardships. For people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, navigating Pride can mean holding multiple identities that don't always feel welcomed in the same spaces.

All of this is Pride, in all its complexity. This June, I invite you to ask “What does Pride mean to me this year?”

A Note from Q Psychology

At Q Psychology we work with the LGBTQ+ community not just in June, but all year round. We understand that Pride can bring up as much as it celebrates, and we hold space for all of it. If this month is bringing up feelings you'd like to explore with someone who genuinely gets it, we'd love to hear from you. Wishing our whole community a Pride Month that feels true to who you are, whatever that looks like this year.

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Support is available:

QLife — Free and confidential LGBTQ+ peer support Phone: 1800 184 527 | qlife.org.au

Beyond Blue — Mental health support Phone: 1300 22 4636 | beyondblue.org.au

Lifeline — 24/7 crisis support and suicide prevention Phone: 13 11 14 | lifeline.org.au

Suicide Callback Service — 24/7 free counselling via phone, online or video Phone: 1300 659 467 | suicidecallbackservice.org.au

Kids Helpline — Free 24/7 counselling for young people aged 5–25 Phone: 1800 55 1800 | kidshelpline.com.au

13YARN — 24/7 culturally safe crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Phone: 13 92 76 | 13yarn.org.au

Roses in the Ocean — Peer Care Warmline — A non-crisis service connecting people with lived experience of suicide, in a shared space of compassion and understanding Phone: 1800 777 337 | rosesintheocean.com.au