One Story, Many Voices: The Inspiration Behind the Belong To Pride 2026 T-Shirt 

By Gillian Henderson, Dublin based designer and Co-Founder of Jill & Gill  

Designing the Belong To Pride 2026 t-shirt was about creating more than a graphic. Knowing that 600 young people will wear it as they march together at Dublin Pride made it feel like an opportunity to create something that could represent both individual identity and collective strength. 

The starting point was this year’s Dublin Pride theme, ‘One Story, Many Voices’. What resonated with me most was the idea that there isn’t one way to be queer. Every person brings their own experiences, perspectives and voice, yet we’re connected by a shared story that stretches across generations. 

From that starting point, I worked with the Belong To Youth Pride Committee to hear from them, what they wanted from the t-shirt and what Pride really means to them.  

Listening to the young people, I knew that the design needed to reflect that balance between individuality and community. Rather than focusing on a single symbol, I explored layered shapes, flowing forms and interconnected patterns that come together to create one larger composition. Their sense of how all of us as individuals across the LGBTQ+ community, work better as a whole, overlap and strengthen one another was the core thread that I drew on.  

Their thoughts also encouraged an Irish cultural perspective, rooting queerness in Irishness and the history of our island for all LGBTQ+ people who live here.  

Being queer and being Irish were once presented as opposing identities. Today’s young people continue to challenge that narrative – not opposing identities, or even separate identities but identities which are intertwined and collective.  Through colour, pattern and form, the design celebrates queerness as something that has always existed here and will continue to shape Ireland’s future. 

Traditional knotwork and patterns often represent connection and continuity, which felt closely linked to the theme. Instead of treating those patterns as fixed or historical, I reimagined them as evolving forms that weave through the design, representing a story that is still being written. 

Most of all, I wanted the t-shirt to feel warm, welcoming and full of energy. Pride is both a celebration and a statement of visibility. It is joyful, but it is also about solidarity. 

When 600 young people wear this design together, my hope is that it becomes more than a t-shirt. It becomes a reminder that every voice has value, every story matters, and together we create something bigger than ourselves. 

One story. Many voices.