Life

More than 1 million people turn out to celebrate Pride in London

By Conor Clark

3rd July 2023

Robby Dee Photography 

Huge crowds took to the streets of London on 1 July to take part in this year’s Pride celebrations.

More than 30,000 participants from around 600 organisations got involved in this year’s Parade, which began at Hyde Park Corner and ended at Whitehall.

Organisers estimated that more than one million people took part in this year’s Pride festivities more generally, which coincided with the 51st anniversary of the UK’s first Pride march.

The day featured headline performances from Adam Lambert, Idina Menzel and Todrick Hall, with other stars such as Eden Hunter, Rita Ora and Jack Hawitt each delivering show-stopping sets.

Pride in London’s ‘Never March Alone’ campaign was featured prominently throughout the day, which emphasised the importance of supporting the trans+ community as it faces increasing persecution from both the media and politicians.

“We’ve got to make sure that we stand solid and strong”

Speaking to GAY TIMES ahead of taking part in the march, Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, emphasised the importance of celebrating Pride while also taking it as an opportunity to “recognise things aren’t perfect” yet.

“This community still faces prejudice, discrimination, hatred, violence,” he continued.

“We know in particular, the trans community is a community that is being stigmatised, demonised and weaponised and we are going to provide allyship.

“Whether it’s me providing allyship to this community or whether its members of the LGBTQI+ community providing allyship to each other.

“I’m quite clear, an attack on one minority is an attack on all minorities and an attack on all of us.”

Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP also serving as the Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales, marched alongside LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall.

“So I come every year that I can, I absolutely love it. That’s the truth, bottom line. I really enjoy it, it’s a great party,” she told GAY TIMES on the day. “However, it’s also really important in terms of the politics of it. It’s really important to be here in support and making it clear that we stand united. It always seems as though they’re coming for some of us and we’ve got to make sure that we stand solid and strong and that’s why I’m here.”

Leading sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust was among the organisations marching at Pride.

Richard Angell, its CEO, said the day showed the amount of support there is for ending new cases of HIV by 2030.

“And when the politicians are watching in, it isn’t just about the pretty flags, it’s about the important message that we’re sharing as well and they need to know this can be their legacy,” he explained.

“We’ve got one more parliament to go if we want to end this epidemic by 2030. They can be the difference we need to see and we could be the first country in the world to do it.”

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