“Queer visibility is the tonic to hatred, and queer joy is the tonic to fear,” Ben Powell, chair of Colchester Pride and drag performer Shar Cooterie, said to the Gazette. “Commemoration – we focus on history, where we’ve been, how things were, and the steps we’ve taken to get away from there. Rainbow - Colchester Pride will bring a rainbow of identities to the city on Saturday (Image: Clacton Pride)Colchester has a documented LGBTQ+ history reaching back at least to the early 1970s. It later developed into The Outhouse, now one of the UK’s longest surviving LGBTQ+ support organisations. He added Colchester is “blessed” to have a particularly supportive ally community, who help to amplify LGBTQ+ voices.