By Kineta Knight Booker
June marks Global Pride Month, a time to celebrate LGBTTQIAP+ (rainbow) communities, honour those who have fought for equality, and reflect on the work still needed to ensure everyone can live, love and be recognised with dignity.
For celebrants, Pride Month is especially meaningful.
Our work sits at the heart of some of life’s most significant moments: weddings, commitments, naming ceremonies, funerals, memorials, transitions and celebrations of identity, family and belonging. We are often invited into deeply personal spaces, and with that comes a responsibility to create ceremonies where every person feels seen, respected and safe.
Pride Month is not simply about rainbow logos or colourful posts. It is an opportunity to listen, learn, celebrate, and ask ourselves how inclusive our practice really is.
Celebrate, support and participate
There are many ways celebrants can take part in Pride Month and show support for rainbow communities. Some are public and visible. Others are quieter, everyday actions that help build a more respectful and inclusive world.
You might attend a local Pride event, support a LGBTTQIAP+ organisation (for example, I’m taking part in the Burnett Foundation’s Sweat with Pride), share resources from rainbow-led groups, or take time to learn more about the history and the issues still facing rainbow communities today.
You could also use this month as a prompt to review your own celebrant practice. Are your forms inclusive? Does your website language welcome all couples and families? Do you ask for pronouns in a natural and respectful way? Do your images, testimonials and social media posts reflect genuine diversity?
Small details matter. Inclusive practice is often felt in the language we use, the assumptions we do not make, and the care we take with every client.
Being an ally is an ongoing commitment
Allyship is not just something we do in June. It is an ongoing commitment to standing alongside LGBTTQIAP+ people, amplifying rainbow voices, and challenging discrimination when we see it.
That might mean calling out homophobia, biphobia or transphobia when it appears in conversation. It might mean making space for LGBTTQIAP+ celebrants, creators and educators. It might mean choosing to keep learning, even when we think we are already doing well.
Most importantly, it means listening. LGBTTQIAP+ people are the experts in their own experiences. Pride Month is a chance to hear those stories, share them with care, and ensure we are not speaking over the very people we are seeking to support.
Practical ways celebrants can show support
Celebrants can mark Pride Month by:
– Reviewing website copy, booking forms etc to ensure they are inclusive.
– Using correct names and pronouns, and making space for clients to share these without pressure or awkwardness.
– Sharing content from LGBTTQIAP+ organisations, educators, artists, advocates and celebrants.
– Supporting LGBTTQIAP+-owned businesses and rainbow-friendly vendors.
– Attending Pride events and local community celebrations.
– Continuing professional development around inclusive language, rainbow histories and diverse family structures (Pride Pledge offers excellent workshops in this area).
– Creating ceremonies that honour each person’s identity, culture, relationship and lived experience.
– Being willing to learn, reflect and improve.
Pride belongs in our practice all year round
As celebrants, we have the privilege of telling people’s stories. We help shape moments of love, grief, joy, identity and belonging. Pride Month reminds us that every person deserves to have their story honoured with care.
The best support we can offer is not performative. It is practical, consistent and genuine.
It is in the way we welcome people.
It is in the words we choose.
It is in the assumptions we challenge.
It is in the ceremonies we create.
And it is in our commitment to making sure every couple, every family and every individual knows they are worthy of celebration.
