Pride London

Pride London is the name of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender registered charity which arranges LGBT events in London, most notably the annual gay pride parade which is held in June/July. The most recent London Pride was on 5 July 2008 which was attended by 825,000 people , making it one of the largest events in London [cite web|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8313.html|title=Pink News: Pride London 2008 attended by 825000 people] and indeed one of the largest pride events in the world.

Pride London is a registered charity. The organisation is run by volunteers (including the board of directors) with some paid consultant help. The stated aim of Pride London is to produce a highly professional Pride Festival and an annual Pride Day comprising a Parade through central London, a politically based Rally and free entertainment in central London.

History

Pride has been organized by several organizations since the first UK Gay Pride Rally which was held in London on the 1st July 1972 which had approximately 2000 participants. [cite web|url=http://www.knittingcircle.org.uk/pridehistory.html|title=The Knitting Circle: Pride, Pride History] . Pride London itself was formed in 2004.

The parade grew steadily each year attracting bigger crowds and more marchers. Since 2004 a political rally in Trafalgar Square has been held straight after the parade, and more recently Pride London has organised several other events in the centre of London on Pride Day including in 2006 'Drag Idol' in Leicester Square, a women's stage in Soho and a party in Soho Square. In 1992 London was selected to hold the first Europride with attendance put at 100,000 [cite web|url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/1992/62/2898|title=Huge turnout for EuroPride '92] , London again held Europride in 2006 with an estimated 600,000 participants. In 2004 it was awarded registered charity status.

Parade

Large numbers of LGBT-friendly people (including a significant number of family, friends and supporters) from all walks of life take part in the parade. Since 1991, the Friends of Dorothy Society of Change Ringers have rung the bells of the church of St Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square during the morning of Pride, and as the parade passes through. For many the most iconic image is of a long rainbow flag, in 2006 this was carried by members of the Metro Centre.

Since 2006 Regent Street and Oxford Street have been closed off to allow the parade to pass through. This is seen by many in the LGBT community as a sign of wider acceptance, although the parade once marched down Oxford Street illegally in protest in the 80s.

Groups who participate include the The OutZone Youth Project for gay and bisexual young men (Project for Advocacy, Counselling and Education), Mosaic LGBT Youth, Queer Youth Network (formally The Queer Youth Alliance), OutOnThursday, Metro Centre, Youth@Pride (now part of the London LGBT Youth Council), The Pink Paper and Transport for London. Since 2004 the Mayor of London, both Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson have participated by walking part of the route with the rainbow flag.

tewards

Pride London has a very strong stewarding system for the parade which is used as an example by many other pride and major public events as a good practice model.

The Pride Festival

For two weeks around the Parade there are hundreds of events which are organised by Pride London in the capital. These include sporting and arts events, debates and concerts.

Patrons

Pride London has several famous patrons including:

* Sir Elton John
* Sir Ian McKellen
* Lord Alli
* Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury
* Stephen Fry
* Rhona Cameron
* Michael Cashman MEP
* Peter Tatchell
* Wayne Sleep

References

ee also

*Gay pride
*Gay pride parade

External links

* [http://www.pridelondon.org Pride London]
* [http://http://www.flickr.com/photos/pride-london/ Pride London Flickr Photostream]
* [http://scene-out.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=1032 Scene-Out Pride London 2007 photos]
* [http://www.knittingcircle.org.uk/pridehistory.html The Knitting Circle: Pride history]
* [http://www.stonewall.org.uk/information_bank/prides_and_mardi_gras/default.asp Listing of UK Gay Pride events]