A HEREFORDSHIRE man has spoken out on what Pride means to him as the county celebrates its second festival this month.

Dean Goodwin-Evans, from Eardisley, near Kington, who is also known by his stage name Boo Lacroux, has helped build up an LGBTQ+ community in the county.

National Pride month is this June, with Hereford's Pride festival on Saturday, June 18 at Hereford Racecourse, in Roman Road.

With a young transgender actress set to star in Doctor Who and the coming out of the first active openly gay professional footballer in 32 years, the LGBTQ+ community has had a lot to celebrate recently.

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Pride events in 2022 are expected to be bigger than ever, as the UK marks 50 years of the movement.

Mr Goodwin-Evans said that while Pride is a fantastic festival day for the county, the premise behind the group encompasses much more.

He said: "We are looking to help the LGBTQ+ community throughout the year, especially young people who are maybe struggling with finding their identity.

"For me that is what the Pride movement is all about, giving people a place where they can be themselves and fully express their personality and that is something we are looking to build upon in Hereford."

Mr Goodwin Evans moved to Herefordshire from a rural farming community in Leicestershire and found similar issues for LGBTQ+ people to ones he experienced as a young man.

He said: "It's difficult for people in more rural communities to embrace difference than in cities because they don't experience it as much.

"That was certainly what I found growing up and even my dad struggled to accept my sexuality at first.

"However, he met my partner, slowly but surely accepted my relationship and became our biggest supporter."

Mr Goodwin-Evans has noticed that things are starting to change.

He said: "When I moved to Herefordshire, there was no obvious LGBTQ+ community to speak of.

"But we developed a great network of people at just the right time who wanted to make a difference and formed Hereford Pride.

"Families are definitely more willing to embrace their sons or daughters coming out than ever, we had parents of teenagers talking to us at the Pride event last year about how they can help their son or daughter express themselves and feel comfortable."

"That's really heartening to see, parents taking it upon themselves to help their kids be their true authentic selves."

Mr Goodwin-Evans said that young footballers like Jake Daniels feeling comfortable enough to embrace their sexuality will only help people feel more confident that they can do the same.

The 17-year-old Blackpool midfielder recently became the first active male professional footballer to come out publicly as gay since Justin Fashanu in 1990.

He said "It really helps. Football and sport in general needs young people like him to come out and say 'this is who I am' and the more people in the public eye that do this the easier it will become for others."