Celebrating Pride Month In London
Every year, during the month of June, the LGBT community celebrates in a number of different ways. Across the globe, various events are held during this important month as a way of recognising the influence LGBT people have had around the world.
What is LGBT or Gay Pride?
It is a movement that celebrates sexual diversity. For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people it is a way of protesting about discrimination and violence. It promotes their dignity, equal rights, self-affirmation and is a way of increasing society’s awareness of the issues they face.
Pride Month In London
Throughout the month of June, London is filled with parades, parties and protests for Pride Month to mark the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots. But, this year the celebrations will feel extra special. Not only is it the first time many events will be taking place in person after two years of Covid-induced cancellations and livestreams, but in 2022 the London Pride Parade will also be celebrating its 50th anniversary.
London’s Pride Parade
This year’s London Pride parade is on Saturday July 2nd. It will retrace the original route of the inaugural 1972 Pride, beginning at Hyde Park, the terminus for the first ever march, before winding its way down to Piccadilly, then south to Haymarket and Trafalgar Square, before ending at Whitehall Place. 2022 is a significant year for the Pride movement and the LGBTQ+ community as it commemorates 50 Years since the first Pride took place in the United Kingdom. It will be an opportunity to celebrate and look forward to the next 50 years, and a recognition of the challenges still faced by the LGBTQ+ community nationally and globally.
The 2022 theme is #AllOurPride – a nod to the fact that this year Pride will be ‘uniting the collective past, present and future of pride from every corner of the LGBT+ community’. The organisers of Pride in London have said that they want to use this year to ‘march towards progress’.
For more information about Pride In London visit; https://prideinlondon.org
The Royal Mint's first ever coin celebrating Britain's LGBTQ+ community, has launched in collaboration with Pride in London.
In addition to the festivities, this week, on the 9th June, The Royal Mint's first ever coin celebrating Britain's LGBTQ+ community, was launched in collaboration with Pride in London.
The coin marks the first time Britain’s LGBTQ+ community has been celebrated on official UK coinage, developed in collaboration with Pride in London. Five million coins will also enter general circulation later this year, making the landmark design accessible to all. The 50p design, revealed by The Royal Mint last month, features Pride in London’s values of Protest, Visibility, Unity, and Equality in rainbows on the reverse (tails) of the coin.
UK Black Pride: POWER
A little later on in the Summer UK Black Pride will be holding its annual in-person celebration event at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford.
Previously, UK Black Pride was held in Haggerston Park, but with the last event seeing over 10,000 people attend, the gathering outgrew the space. The move to Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a marker of the event's continued growth.
“Each year, we consider how – through programming, protest and politics – we can create a space where our identities and our cultures can be expressed safely, in partnership with councils and venues that understand how important our communities are to us. We have been wholly impressed by the team at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and their enthusiasm to bring LGBTQI+ Black people and people of colour together for our annual event at such an iconic venue”
Co-founder and CEO of UK Black Pride, Dr. Phyll Opoku-Gyimah (AKA Lady Phyll)
It’s been 10 years this summer, since the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park became the hub for London’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since then the Park has attracted 6 million visits a year and has welcomed thousands of new homes and two new business districts.
Every year, the UK Black Pride team picks a theme they feel speaks to the current context of LGBTQI+ Black people and people of colour in the UK.
The theme for this year's event is ‘Power’ to honour “the power our communities continue to wield to ensure that our communities are defended and supported, loved and protected,”
Lyn Garner, Chief Executive of London Legacy Development Corporation, who developed the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, shared that the theme of power “will resonate around the Park where huge transformation for the better is being delivered by placing inclusivity at the heart of everything we do.”
Opoku-Gyimah emphasises: “We continue to demonstrate a collective power – a power that UK Black Pride recognises and wants to celebrate.”
UK Black Pride 2022 will take place on the 14th of August at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford.
For more information visit www.ukblackpride.org.uk
www.queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/whats-on/events/2022/08/uk-black-pride
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