Each June, the world comes together to honour the LGBTQ+ community and our men’s and women’s teams have been showing their support throughout the month, telling us what ‘Pride’ means to them.
Kevin De Bruyne, Steph Houghton, Nathan Ake, Janine Beckie and Laura Coombs expressed their opinions on why it is important to join together in unity.
We also asked our City stars how people can celebrate diversity in their day-to-day lives.
Three-time Champions League winner and FIFA’s Best Player of the Year Lucy Bronze says championing freedom of choice is vital in the bid to achieve equality.
“It’s important to support Pride just as much as it’s important to support anything that’s going on,” she said.
“It’s important that we’re there for each other for the choices that we want to make in our lives, whether that’s sexual orientation, whether that’s who you want to be, where you want to live, what you want to do in your life…
“I think it’s important to support each other so that everybody feels equal in this world.”
City and England stars John Stones and Lauren Hemp agreed the world should celebrate the qualities that make everyone different, embracing the traits that make us all unique.
“We should be celebrating everyone’s differences in any aspect,” Stones declared, “and celebrate those things.
“It’s a great month and we should celebrate it.”
PFA Young Player of the Year Hemp concurred: “It’s important to show support to Pride because everyone’s unique in their own different way.
“It doesn’t matter your gender, religion, etc. You should be proud of who you are and be able to show that.”
Aoife Mannion expressed her own pride to live in a country where people feel empowered to express themselves and share their identities openly.
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“It’s really important to show our support for Pride Month because we live in a community with lots of people from diverse backgrounds,” she reflected.
“It’s really important for everyone to draw attention to that and to celebrate that because it hasn’t always been the way.
“We’re proud to be part of a country that is very, very progressive and that deserves to be highlighted.”
Georgia Stanway voiced her agreement to Mannion’s comments, asserting that ultimately, everyone should be treated equally.
“It’s important to show support because everybody’s equal – no matter who you are, what you do, what you believe in…
“We’ve got to pursue that and support each other as a nation.
“Everybody’s got a right to be whoever they want to be.”
