London Pride: Thousands turn out in force as the capital celebrates 50 years since the first march for LGBTQ+ rights
Thousands of people have gathered across London to be part of this year's Pride celebrations - which marks 50 years since the first march for LGBTQ+ rights in the capital.
People wearing the traditional rainbow patterns, as well as face paint and glitter, are taking part in the event this year - the first since 2019 due to the COVID pandemic.
Floats queued up along Park Lane ahead of the main parade and march through London, with more than a million people expected to line the streets in celebration of the movement.
Dubbed "the biggest and most inclusive event in history", several artists will perform on four stages across London, including Emeli Sande, who publicly came out earlier this year.
Closing the show in Trafalgar Square will be performer Ava Max, with other artists on the line-up including Israel's Eurovision winner Netta, noughties popstar Samantha Mumba and American actress Kat Graham.
The parade route this year will pay tribute to the original march in 1972.
Some of the organisers of that important event 50 years ago are joining this year's proceedings that will see participants pass important landmarks along the way.
Speaking to Sky News, Martin, who was at the original march in the 70s, said: "We've still got a fight to do and certainly a big fight internationally.
"What happened in Oslo last weekend has made this even more relevant - in my own choir, the guy who is organising our Pride march was attacked by homophobes last night and ended up in hospital.
"If anything, it shows that what we're doing today is absolutely relevant... and you see the flags, you see the rainbow as you see this joyous expression of being gay.
"But actually at the heart of this, the political activism is everything, that's what it was all about."
All the money raised from the commercial partnerships will go to straight back into the LGBTQ+ community, organisers say, with the Unity Fund, which provides grassroots funding for community projects, being one major beneficiary.
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'There's still a danger to this community'
Earlier, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan warned there was still a "danger" to the LGBTQ+ community in London, telling people not to be "complacent" at the event.
He said: "We're back after the last two-and-a-half years or so. This year is the 50th anniversary of Pride, celebrating this community, celebrating the progress made, but also continuing to campaign and never be complacent.
"We saw this time last week an attack in Oslo just hours before that parade, where two people lost their lives and more than 20 were injured.
"So, we've got to be conscious of the fact that there's still a danger to this community of discrimination, bias and violence. But allies like me are really important to support this community."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also hailed this year's events, saying in a statement: "It gives me the greatest pride to lead a country where you can love whomever you choose to love. And where you can be free to be whoever you want to be.
"This hasn't always been a given, and certainly wasn't the case 50 years ago.
"Marching the streets in 1972 was an incredibly brave thing to do, and today will see thousands of people, friends and families once more coming together to mark the tremendous milestone of 50 years of our capital's Pride."
London marks 50 years of Pride
London on Saturday celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first Pride parade, marking half a century of progress in the fight for equality and tolerance but with warnings that more still needs to be done.
Several hundred people took part in the first march on July 1, 1972, just five years after homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK.
Fifty years on, more than 600 LGBTQ+ groups danced, sang and rode floats along a similar route to the original protest, in the first Pride since the coronavirus pandemic, watched by huge cheering crowds.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told reporters the event, which organisers said was the "biggest and most inclusive" in its history, was a celebration of community, unity and progress.
But he said it was also a reminder of the need to "campaign and never be complacent" and the need for "an open, inclusive, accepting world".
"We saw this time last week an attack in Oslo just hours before that parade, where two people lost their lives and more than 20 were injured," he said.
"So, we've got to be conscious of the fact that there's still a danger to this community of discrimination, bias and violence."
Khan's predecessor as mayor, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said it gave him "the greatest pride to lead a country where you can love whomever you choose to love and where you can be free to be whoever you want to be".
Peter Tatchell, a veteran gay rights campaigner who took part in the 1972 march, said some from the original event have boycotted the modern-day sponsored version as "depoliticised and commercialised".
- Campaigning -
In 1972, "Gay Pride", as it was then known, was a demand for visibility and equality against a backdrop of lingering prejudice, discrimination and fear among many gay men and women about coming out.
In the 1980s, Pride became a focal point for campaigning against legislation by prime minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government against the "promotion of homosexuality" in schools.
It also helped to raise awareness and support for people with HIV/Aids.
Now, with the rainbow flag of inclusion and tolerance spread ever more widely over the spectrum of human sexuality and gender, Pride in London is more celebration than protest.
Tatchell said that despite victories such as same-sex marriage, "we are still fighting to ban LGBT+ conversion practices which seek to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity".
"We're still fighting to secure trans people's right to change their legal documents with ease by a simple statutory declaration. And of course, we are standing in solidarity with a global LGBT+ movement," he told AFP.
Julian Hows, now 67, was at the first march. He said "progress is always incremental", criticising curbs on LGBTQ+ rights around the world.
"We have to be vigilant. The price of liberation and to keeping people's human rights intact is vigilance," he added.
Padraigin Ni Raghillig, president of Dykes on Bikes London, a motorcycle club for gay women, said the event retained part of its original campaigning spirit.
"It's still important, I think, to at least once a year to be out and about, and to say 'we're here, we're queer, and we're not going shopping'," said Ni Raghillig, astride a Harley Davidson.
Among those marching was a contingent from Ukraine, who criticised homophobia in Russia.
This year's Pride saw warnings for people with monkeypox symptoms to stay away, after public health officials said many cases in the UK were reported among gay and bisexual men.
LGBTQ+ campaign group Stonewall said everyone had a part to play to stop the spread of monkeypox, which is passed through close contact regardless of sexual orientation.
Phil HAZLEWOOD Sat, July 2, 2022
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