Arsenal celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride Month

This June, our club comes together to celebrate Pride Month with an ongoing commitment to ensure the LGBTQ+ community feels safe and welcome within our Arsenal family.

We’ll officially mark the month at Pride in London, marching at the capital’s parade alongside our GayGooners supporters’ group. Last year, Mikel Arteta and our men’s team celebrated the return of Pride after a two-year pandemic hiatus by giving the double-decker float a special send-off at London Colney.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of GayGooners, the largest LGBTQ+ supporters group in British football. As the first of its kind, the group has spent the past decade following Arsenal and providing a sense of belonging for LGBTQ+ supporters and allies alike.

In an interview with our club’s media, Stewart Selby, founder of Gaygooners, reflected on his gratitude for the group over the years.

“It completely changed my experience of football. You're not only changing the experience for yourself but for everyone else involved.

“GayGooners has changed my life in so many ways. The greatest honour is when people tell us that we've helped bring them into football. That's a beautiful feeling.”

This season also saw us collaborate with adidas to create the adidas x Arsenal Love Unites kit, inspired by the activists of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and proudly worn by our players.

Our club's celebrations for LGBTQ+ History Month in February included hosting an inclusive football tournament at the Arsenal Hub, installing bespoke artwork outside The Armoury and using LGBTQ+ iconography and a 'Love is Love' crowdsurfer at Emirates Stadium on matchday. We also produced a short film with Jen Beattie and Wonderkid FC on the importance of inclusivity and allyship at the grassroots level.

As part of our continued support of Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign, Jahmal Howlett-Mundle, Lucy Clark, and Lianne Sanderson joined us pitchside for our Premier League and Women’s Super League games, sharing their experiences as LGBTQ+ people within football.

Arsenal in the Community has taken an active role in providing LGBTQ+ education and tackling homophobia. Our community team are trained by Stonewall to deliver LGBTQ+ awareness sessions to staff and community groups, and this year, we are delivering education sessions in local primary schools in association with Camden and Islington LGBT Forum.

Everyone in the Arsenal family can make a difference by having conversations, listening to others, understanding the stigma that still surrounds the LGBTQ+ community and calling out discriminatory behaviour when we see it. We should all feel welcome to be a Gooner.