Pride Month, sometimes specified as LGBTQ Pride Month, is a month-long observance dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQ pride, commemorating the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) culture and community.
In most countries Pride Month is observed in June as it coincides with the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests that many judge began the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights in the US and across the world.
In the MKP UK&I community Pride is a month for us to reflect on the struggles of those in our community who identify as GBTQ+ and their contributions at lots of different levels our community.
We’re also very proud of the following resources that we provide for GBTQ+ folks.
Rainbow Initiated Connection Circle (RICC) – takes place on the third Monday of each month between 7pm and 8:30pm. It’s a space where initiated GBTQ+ men can check-in and share what’s going on for them.
RICC is a facilitated drop-in space where you can sit with others like you and listen to them and share. We ask RICC attendees to make the following commitments during the session; Confidentiality and that you keep your camera on for the duration of the session.
Details about RICC are shared on the Rainbow Circle email list and on some of the newsletters. If you’d like further information, please contact the Centre Manager.
Rainbow Open Connection Circle (ROCC) – takes place on the fourth Monday of each month, once again between 7pm and 8:30pm. ROCC is also a space for GBTQ+ people to check-in with each other. It’s a space for GBTQ+ who want an introduction to what it’s like to sit in a circle with other GBTQ+ men.
Further details of ROCC are available on the regular MKP newsletters or from the Centre Manager.
NWTA for GBTQ+. Unlike the regular NWTAs, this training is specifically for people who identify as GBTQ+. Most initiates and staff are GBTQ+. It’s a good way to connect with others and to be of service.
The next NWTA for GBTQ+ is scheduled for - 9th-11th October 2026, Sheffield, England.
NWTA Register GBTQ+ Gateway — The ManKind Project UK and Ireland
Other events – Members of the Rainbow Circle often organise events for others in the UK&I community or across Europe.
Events like the Rainbow Warrior Gathering are an opportunity to connect with other GBTQ+ men from many European Centres.
TESTIMONIALS FROM STAFF & PARTICIPANTS
‘I’ve staffed the GBTQ+ Gateway for three years running. The reason I keep coming back is that I’m convinced the weekend changes people’s lives, including my own. Each participant will get something different out of it - there’s no expectation or formula. However, it seems to be the combination of individual and shared experience that seems to provide healing and growth for so many.
GBTQ+ people didn’t grow up in the same world as heteronormative men or women. We faced challenges and wounding that often wasn't met with understanding or compassion. The Mankind Project has devised a weekend experience where that understanding exists, deeply. To participate in it as a staff member is a unique - i.e. rare and different every time - experience. One of the most valuable of my life.’
Aidan Hawkes
’For me, the GBTQ + Rainbow Gateway weekend meant a very great deal indeed. It was a pivotal, transformational and incredibly powerful experience. The closest thing to genuine magic that I have ever experienced in my life. It allowed me to step deeply into through and beyond many of the things that have encumbered hindered and held me back throughout my life. It was not at all easy, but the reward was well worth it. The gift of myself, my true self in all of my imperfect glory and power, that I left with has allowed me to begin building the life that I always wanted but never dared accept was actually possible.
It has given me a firm foundation on which to stand, the ability and acceptance to see the gift in every challenge that life brings my way. The resolute strength to do the work each and every day that I need to do to make myself, my community and the world that I live in a better place one small step at a time. Real, genuine and lasting progress that I witness daily as I clearly see empirical evidence of this progress in my life and beyond. Mission, purpose, community all of these things were sorely lacking in my life before I participated in this weekend, now they are the focus of my life. Before I completed this powerful adventure, I lived a life of isolation, fear and loneliness. A disingenuous life blighted by anger guilt and shame. I was stuck unable to process or move on. Living a life of quiet desperation drowning behind a false smile. Now I have a set of tools that enable me to face my shadows each and every day to work with them, repurpose and transform them, not allow them to break me leaving me crippled and inept. I now live a life that is genuine, that is mine, I have been able to take off the masks that I hid behind, set down the heavy armour which was crushing me and find great strength in my softness and my vulnerability which I previously viewed as weaknesses, the strength to walk forward as my true self.
The Rainbow Gateway weekend did not “fix” me, it gave me a space to truly reconnect with myself and in doing so, it gave me the courage to finally begin truly living, to become the person I had spent a lifetime hiding from.’
Martin/Martine Jenkins
‘I completed my initiation at the first Gateway GBTQ+ training in Derbyshire in 2024 and have staffed 3 times since then. Staffing has honestly been even more powerful than my initiation, which was already life changing. Something magical has happened since, where the journey of growth that I started 2 years ago has kept developing at each weekend, and the emotional journey of compassion, grief, joy and anger that each training unlocks has been humbling and transformative. What’s more, being a part of a team of GBTQ+ brothers, working together to help others in our community, and seeing them grow in self-love and realisation, has been a privilege and a joy. This is what makes this training so special, because the experience doesn’t just evaporate after an intense weekend initiation, staffing means that it can grow roots and become stronger and more integrated into my life and understanding; this is why I keep coming back.’
Richard Parkin
