Queer Joy as Resistance: our day at UCL East Pride

In May, we joined UCL East’s Pride celebration for an evening built around a beautiful theme – Queer Joy as Resistance.

The day brought students, community members and local charities together around a screening of Pride (2014), the story of London lesbians and gay men who stood with striking Welsh miners in 1984. Before the film, we got to meet people, talk about Footprints of Love, and share how Newham’s queer history is being gathered and kept.

After the screening, our founder Ana de Matos joined a panel discussion on what queer joy as resistance means now – alongside writer and curator Ben Walters hosted by UCL’s LGBTQ+ Student Network and Students’ Union Social Impact Team.

It was a warm, generous evening, and a reminder that the work of remembering is also, often, a celebration.