What I needed to see: Pride in Cumbria

Rocco Boyd (he/him) is a young LGBTQ+ activist, Event Lead and Co-Chair for Whitehaven’s Pride by the Harbourside with Northern Equality and Diversity. This involves running inclusive events and initiatives, social groups, and supportive spaces. He's also part of a small team behind the Colours Hub with Proud and Diverse Cumbria. He is passionate about creating lasting social impact for LGBTQ+ young people and is proudly gay. Here, he talks about his experience as a gay teenager, and the value of young people in community organising.

I’m a young, openly gay teenager. I also chair Whitehaven’s Pride by the Harbourside, a large Pride event on the Cumbrian coast, something that younger me would never have believed possible.

Growing up gay isn’t just about realising who you are. It’s about learning, very early on, how the world might react to that truth. At schools across the north, “gay” is still used as an insult. You become hyper-aware of yourself, how you talk, how you act, who you sit next to. Even when no one says anything outright, the fear of being singled out can sit quietly in your chest for years.

For a long time, I felt like I had to choose between being myself and being safe. That’s something many young gay people understand instinctively. You learn to edit yourself, to take up less space, to wait until “later” to be fully you, even though later isn’t guaranteed to feel any safer.

"Change doesn't just happen, it's built"

What changed things for me wasn’t suddenly becoming fearless. It was realising that visibility creates safety. Seeing LGBTQ+ people exist openly, especially in places like Cumbria where representation can feel limited, showed me that change doesn’t just happen, it’s built.

That’s why I got involved in Pride. Co-Chairing Whitehaven’s Pride by the Harbourside as a teenager isn’t about attention or celebration for its own sake. It’s about creating lasting social impact. It’s about making sure that a young person growing up here now doesn’t feel as alone as so many of us once did. Pride says: you belong here, exactly as you are. If you want to attend our pride, check out our website, www.pridebytheharbourside.co.uk. It's a space to be you, designed by me, another young person. 30th August 2026.

Young gay people still face bullying, mental health challenges, and a lack of visible role models. We fight this by being present, by building spaces like the Colours Inclusion Hub in Whitehaven where authenticity is celebrated, and by proving that your future doesn’t have to be smaller than your dreams.

If I could speak to my younger self, I wouldn’t promise that everything gets easy. But I’d promise that it gets better. Life gets bigger, louder, and more honest and that being yourself can change more than just your own world. Being openly gay hasn’t made my life smaller; it’s made it fuller, braver, and more honest. If you’re reading this and wondering whether it’s worth it, know this: there is a future where you don’t have to hide, explain, or apologise for who you are. You deserve to live out loud, in your own time and in your own way, and when you do, it really does get better.

If you're a young person who's interested in getting involved in LGBTQ+ community organising, I’d say don’t wait until you feel “ready”, because most people never do. Getting involved in your community can be scary at first, especially if you’re young and don’t think your voice will be taken seriously, but it matters more than you realise. Start small, ask questions, and don’t be afraid to show up even if you don’t know everything yet. You learn by doing. Find something you care about, whether that’s Pride, equality, or helping others feel less alone, and lead with that. Your age isn’t a barrier, it’s a strength, and your perspective is needed.

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.”

- Harvey Fierstein