'Change is really happening', says Portsmouth Pride organiser

"My dad is Muslim and he's always championed and supported me. Me being out and a lesbian has never been an issue."Tally Aslam is co-chair of Portsmouth Pride, a volunteer-run local charity hosting UK Pride 2025 this weekend.She told the BBC how she came out in 2000 at the age of 15, after she was accused of being "disruptive" in school when she asked about gay relationships in a sex education class.While her dad is her biggest supporter, Ms Aslam said "culturally, there is still a lot of homophobia in non-white communities".
"It's not all smooth sailing, other members of my family are not as open-minded as my dad – but then my dad married a white woman so, he's not really one for conforming all the time," she said.At the time Ms Aslam was at school in the Hampshire city, a law called Section 28 was in place that affected the LGBT+ community.Passed in May 1988, Section 28 of the Local Government Act banned places like schools and libraries from "promoting homosexuality". It was repealed in England and Wales in 2003.This meant that school teachers were effectively banned from talking or educating people about homosexuality."I didn't even know it [Section 28] existed until I was in my 30s, which is shocking," said Ms Aslam."When I was in school and doing sex education, I asked about gay relationships and was sent to the headmistress's office for being disruptive."But Ms Aslam said she felt "lucky", adding: "All I can do is look at how my dad interprets the Quran and his faith and lead from that. "When it comes to religion, I think a lot of it is interpretation and opinion – you can either use that interpretation to embrace and love people for their differences or you can use it alienate and marginalise communities."On both sides of the coin, the Muslim community is seen through one lens when actually there are so many Muslim people who are LGBTQ+ and have supportive families."
Growing up in Portsmouth, Ms Aslam said "homophobia was really rife". "You look on Facebook today and the comments are still there," she said. "People are emboldened by things that happen in the world and legislation emboldens people to embrace their bigotry."However, she said in the eight years she has been involved with Portsmouth Pride, she has seen "huge steps forward from local organisations and individuals"."My favourite bit of Pride is those tiny moments that no-one else sees that show that change is really happening," she said."For me, it is about making Portsmouth a more inclusive city and a better place to grow up LGBTQ+ than it was when I grew up here."
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