One million people break Pride London record

London Pride broke it's own record today with over 1 million supporters marching through the capital in honour of gay life.

news.PinkPaper.com
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
4 July 2009
London Pride broke it's own record today with over 1 million supporters marching through the capital in honour of gay life.
 
The parade, which opened the annual celebration, began at Baker Street before continuing through Regent Street and into Trafalgar Square, which housed the main Pride stage.
 
A handful of anti-gay protestors gathered in Waterloo Place, off Trafalgar Square, with signs that read 'Stop the promotion of homosexuality' and 'Absolve yourself of sin'.
 
Shortlybefore 3pm, official statistics confirmed that in excess of one million people attended the parade, making Pride London 2009 the most-attended year in its entire history.
 
A host of key political speakers graced the main stage, including human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and deputy leader of the Labour party, Harriet Harman. During her speech, which was greeted with cheers and jeers, she asked for support in the Equality Bill.
 
"The Equality Bill is in the Houses of Parliament now and we need your help in making that law. If you want more rights for gays and transexuals, you need to ensure it becomes a legal relaity."
 
Then, when introducing MP Chris Bryant, she referred to him and Ben Bradshaw MP as "two of the fittest men in government." 
 
Speaking to Pink Paper immediately after her mixed reception, Harman said: "I think it's fantastic to see Pride get bigger and more determined every year. To the supporters here today, we should celebrate the progress made, but push to do more."
 
Bryant added: "In my lifetime homosexuality was illegal in this country and allsorts of changes have come about - solely because people stood up for themselves. That's why I'm proud of Pride."
 
He continued: "the most liberal place for gay people in the twentieth century was Berlin in the 30s. Ten years leater, people died. We must always fight to move forward." 
 
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was another of the keynote speakers. Following his appearance on the main stage, we asked him what pride meant to him. He told us: "Britain has made strides in the last decade, which is a phenomenal acheivement, so Pride is a celebration of that - and also the fact that we have won our palce at the table. But we're also pushing to remove the final vestiges of homophobia like the ban on gay marriage."
 
When asked if ultimate equality is inevitable, he said: "No, they're likely, but not inevitable. We've come a long way baby, but there's a lot more to do." 
 
Story Comments
You must log in to add a comment. If you already have a PinkPaper account log in with your email address and password. If you’re a customer of Prowler Direct, Diva Direct, Gay Times, Diva Mag, Libertas or Expectations you can log in with those details.
- 7/8/2009 3:03:49 PM

Great pride this year. Sorry to hear other gay communities suffering from homophobic policies, usually Tory led councils by the way. The Liberals,Labour and the Greens don't just talk gay rights to fool naive LGBT voters like the tories are trying to do. Gay people deserve full equality I have to agree with Thatchell we have come a long way but still have some to go. The conservatives including mr shameron I mean Cameron tried to block the Equality bill. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens vote for equality the tories pretend to support us then when they get the chance to show they support us the vote against a bill that would increase our rights. Same old tories, hypocrites.

Report Abuse
- 7/7/2009 9:39:32 PM

NO real gay pride in Cornwall as gay victims of institutional abuse carried out by Cornwall police & Cornish authorities are actively excluded & ostracised from GLBT groups. These new authority run/controled groups have sold out gay people for 30 pieces of funding. It maybe ok within the M25, but rural areas are still provincial & prejudiced in their attitudes & practises towards gay persons. Chief Constable Stephen Otter, the laughable ACPO lead on police 'Equality & Diversity' needs to sort ourt the homophobic attitudes & practises within his own police force...I can assist by providing a catalogue of police officers names to start with.

Report Abuse
- 7/4/2009 11:20:27 PM

My County Council refuses to support the gay community, sighting they are not Statuary Obligated to do so. So that’s ‘no’ advertising, ‘no’ money for development workers, ‘no’ events, ‘no’ youth groups and much, much more. They say if they support us, then this will only encourage the BNP to become stronger. Living in London must be fantastic, however living in South Gloucestershire is the complete opposite the gay community here is oppressed!

Report Abuse
Facebook
Twitter