From the pool parties in Spain to the high heel racing in Miami, these international events see hundreds of millions of people unite to celebrate gay pride.

I've been lucky; being a young gay man in the 21st Century is certainly different to that of fifty, or even ten, years ago. In essence the law is now on my side, I can love another man freely, I can get engaged and have a civil partnership and, should I wish to do so, adopt children.

It does nothing but damage the image of gay couples. The emphasis was on sex rather than love; and had a flamboyant carnival atmosphere vastly different from the original pride parade in New York in 1969 which was firmly about politics and equality.

No matter how much of this amazingly diverse planet one experiences, there can be no substitute for the exquisitely unique annual celebration of Gay Pride. Indeed the collective collaboration over the years between various LGBT groups and those supporting them has brought together a whirlwind of colourful displays by those of us who are out and proud.

Pride is a day when children raised by LGBTQ parents can meet others like them and can be reminded that it's not actually such a unique or unusual position to be in and that their family goes through many of the same trials and has the same joys and the same love as any straight family.

Gay Pride is a day when people with peroxide blonde hair wear speedos whist blowing a whistle down Baker Street, an allocated day in the calendar you're allowed to be LGBT on the streets of London. But it was once much more than a celebration of rainbow flags made in China: it used to be political.