It may have only lasted an hour, but marking the fight against homophobia was a very moving and memorable event. It also commemorated the day in 1990 that homosexuality was removed from the World Health Organisation’s list of mental illnesses.

There was a sizeable crowd down at the Volks Railway stop on Madeira Drive, with people from all areas of our LGBT communities. The evening began with a couple of songs from the Rainbow Chorus, followed by a selection of speeches (see below) introduced by Cliff James (IDAHOBIT). Then instead of a minutes silence, we remembered the victims of homophobic violence around the world with a minutes ’noise’. The sensible people brought whistles, the rest of us just screamed our heads off!

There was then a speech from the MEP Caroline Lucas, before we were all invited to light a ring of candles as the Rainbow Chorus and City of Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus performed. After a concluding speech from Nick Antjoule from Brighton and Hove Council LGBT Workers Forum, the Gay Men’s Chorus lead us all in singing You’ll never walk alone.

The most delightful and poignant part of the whole event, were the 77 sky lanterns that were gradually set alight and released into the evening sky as the sun slowly set. Each one representing a country that still persecute gay people.

Speeches from: Cliff James (IDAHOBIT), Des Turner (Labour MP for Kemptown), Nigel Tart (National Union of Teachers), Jeff Grift (Public and Commercial Service Union), Caroline Lucas (Green MEP), Nick Antjoule (Brighton and Hove Council LGBT Workers Forum).