London’s Pride Parade Returns After Pandemic Hiatus
(Bloomberg) -- The annual Pride Parade returned to the streets of London on Saturday for the first time since the pandemic, as thousands marched through the city to celebrate 50 years since the movement’s protest-rooted inception.The parade embarked on its historic route on a cloudy but warm day in the British capital, moving eastward from Hyde Park Corner to Whitehall Place. Organizers were hoping for record crowds, with some 1.5 million people expected to take part. It was led by gray-haired veterans of the first march, holding signs that read “I was there in 1972.” During that half-century, what started as an anti-establishment fight for basic rights has evolved into a decidedly more mainstream and corporate occasion. London's mayor Sadiq Khan and other politicians attended, and rainbow flags hung over Regent Street, a popular shopping destination in central London."I'm proud to be mayor of this city where you're free to love who you want to love and free to be who you want to be," Khan said at the start of the parade in a video posted on the event's official Instagram account.
Still, the marchers are rallying around fresh demands after recent events in the UK. A surge in hate crimes helped dent its image as a haven of tolerance and equality, while the Conservative government’s refusal to reform the gender recognition law and completely ban conversion therapy has stoked fierce debate. The country is now not even in the region’s top 10 most LGBTQ-friendly nations, according to one ranking, having topped it nearly a decade ago.
Pride itself has been rocked by controversy, including by worries that it has not dealt properly with allegations of racism and bullying of volunteers that surfaced last year. Citigroup Inc decided not to provide sponsorship while Barclays Plc is missing from the raft of firms named as partners on the organization’s website.
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The campaigning group has apologized and vowed an overhaul, including to draw at least half its leadership team from minority and ethnic backgrounds. “Pride in London exists to bring the community together, which includes people from every race, ethnicity, background, sexuality and gender,” its organizers said in an emailed statement.
Seeking a fresh start, it is also promising to return to its history as grass-roots activism — by pushing the government to reform to the Gender Recognition Act to allow self-ID of gender, provide equal protection for LGBTQ communities against hate crime, and ban so-called conversion therapy for transgender people as well as for homosexual or bisexual people.
The first pride parade in London took place in 1972 and was organized by the Gay Liberation Front, a short-lived political group that fought for equality. This year, stars such as Ava Max, Eurovision-winning singer Netta Barzilai and Samantha Mumba are performing on stages set up across the capital. There are also dozens of other events, including a tour of the British Museum and a boat party on the Thames. The massive London gathering was replicated at smaller events around the country, from Cornwall in the southwest to Shetland, in the far north, which held its first pride parade.
The cost of running the London march and wider festival is estimated to run into the seven figures. Gold sponsors include BT Group Plc and Coca-Cola Co.
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Author: Samuel Etienne and Justina Lee
