In August 2011 I was part of aquatics club Out To Swim's trade stand at Black Pride in London.
Although our club has a pretty diverse membership, we are under-represented in terms of people from black ethnic groups and cultures.
Our objective for the day was to raise awareness of what our club offered and try and attract some new members from the Black Pride attendees.
As a group of people manning that trade stand we were connected. Although we came from countries across the world, from different cultures and with different languages, we had a common purpose and a shared passion for aquatics. When it rained we huddled together beneath our small gazebo, we dared each other to make conversation with unlikely characters, and when music came on that we liked we all danced together.
For the 700ish people at Black Pride, their connection was to come together for the biggest celebration of African, Asian, Caribbean and Middle Eastern LGBT people in Europe.
It was a great day - we met some amazing people, ate some really good jerk chicken, and signed up over 50 people interested in finding out more about participating in aquatics.
However the moment that stands out for me is when the DJ slammed on Beyonce's "Single Ladies". I have never seen a group of teenage boys (a spontaneous troupe of over 30), so together, so in sync, so focused on delivering and performing a step-perfect routine that Beyonce herself would have been proud of.
As the song finished and the boys caught their breath, we stood and applauded. Now that is a connection.
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