#London #celebrates #years #pride
London on Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of its first Pride March, marking half a century of progress in the fight for equality and tolerance but with warnings that more needs to be done.
Several hundred people took part in the first march on July 1, 1972, just five years after homosexuality was decriminalized in Britain.
Fifty years later, more than 600 LGBTQ+ groups danced, sang and drove along a route similar to the original protest, the first Pride since the coronavirus pandemic, watched by huge cheering crowds.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told reporters the event, which organizers said was the “largest 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 an attack in Oslo this time last week, just hours before this parade, in which two people lost their lives and more than 20 were injured,” he said.
“So we have to be aware of the fact that this community is still threatened by 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 who you love and where you can be free to be who you want to be”.
The 50th anniversary is a “milestone,” he said, recognizing the courage of those who did it first.
Peter Tatchell, a veteran gay rights activist who took part in the 1972 march, said some attendees at the original event boycotted the modern sponsored version as “depoliticized and commercialized.”
– election campaign –
In 1972 “Gay Pride”, as it was then known, was a demand for visibility and equality against the background of persistent prejudice, discrimination and fear among many gay men and women of 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 raise awareness and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Now, as the rainbow flag of inclusion and tolerance continues to fly across the spectrum of human sexuality and gender, Pride in London is more celebration than protest.
Tatchell said that despite victories like same-sex marriage, “we still fight to ban LGBT+ conversion practices that aim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
“We are still fighting to secure the right of trans people to change their legal documents with ease through a simple statutory statement. And of course we stand in solidarity with a global LGBT+ movement,” he told AFP.
Julian Hows, now 67, took part in the first march. He said “progress is always incremental” and criticized the curtailment of LGBTQ+ rights around the world.
“We must be vigilant. The price of liberation and upholding people’s human rights is vigilance,” he added.
– Visibility –
Padraigin Ni Raghillig, President of Dykes on Bikes London, a gay women’s motorcycle club, said the event retained some of its original campaigning spirit.
“I think it’s still important to be out there at least once a year and say, ‘We’re here, we’re queer and we don’t go shopping,'” said Ni Raghillig, astride a Harley Davidson.
Among the demonstrators was a contingent from Ukraine, who criticized homophobia in Russia.
At this year’s Pride, people with monkeypox symptoms were warned 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 must play a role in stopping the spread of monkeypox, which is transmitted through close contact regardless of sexual orientation.
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