Pride in Ely is not only a “celebration, but also a protest – a protest seeking equal human rights.”

As large crowds are expected to join the Pride in Ely at the Maltings and in Jubilee Gardens on Saturday, Cllr Christine Whelan sounded a cautionary note about the challenges faced by the LGBT+ community.

“We are at a difficult time for equality with both physical and legal attacks coming from all directions,” she said.

“Trans rights are under sustained attack, anti-immigrant sentiment is destroying lives, so called feminists destroying the lives of women and the inequality caused by social exclusion is worse than at any time I have known.

As the city council raised the Pride flag in Ely on Monday, she said: “We start this Pride week with LBGT+ still subjected to barbaric conversion therapies, and with some demanding only minimal reduction to those atrocities.

“But more than all it is the lies, lies perpetrated through hate and perpetuated through Government and other elected officials.

“LGBT+ Pride as a protest is needed now more than ever.”