London Pride 2018

Happy Pride all! I was supposed to be there, but had to cancel my London trip unfortunately.

Remember Pride started as a protest, and we still need that protest for many things (not least helping people in countries such as the one football is happening in). And that Pride is about supporting the community, and each other.

It's also a party, so enjoy it. But stay safe. And if parties and parades aren't your thing, you're still as much a part of the community.

I'm doing spectacularly well at missing Prides this year- a day too late for New York, missing London and in London for Cardiff Pride. Still I'll watch the film Pride and drink some gin to you all partying tonight.

Wear sunscreen, carry water, love each other, and have a wonderful day!

Thanks! I've been thinking about it a LOT this year. I'm a loud-mouthed-activist Queer (or whatever label I'm choosing each day) and I want to shout, make changes and generally embody the spirit of Pride in that respect. 

But I'm also an introvert, who hates crowds, doesn't drink that much (cough most days cough) and doesn't like clubbing and whatnot. But Pride still belongs to me as well. And everyone who stays at home. 

And as I get older, I also find myself wanting to look after members of our community, younger ones, but also anyone else who doesn't feel they fit in. So on that note, standing invitation if anyone always wanted to go to Pride but was reluctant, I'll go and stand with them. If anyone DOESN'T want to go to Pride, I'll go for a drink/coffee/cake/sit in a park with them. 

ooh Manchester Pride is a 'Bucket List' Pride for me (I was raised by Russell T Davies and Queer as Folk after all) 

Pictures or it didn't happen!!

It's always great fun. I'll be there in the parade

Sadly health issues have prevented me from being in London today - but from everything I hear, it is going brilliantly.

Biggest parade ever. Greatest number of participating groups representing EVERY sector of the various LGBT communities. Largest number of volunteers ever. Most diverse team of volunteers.

I love emicardiff's idea. One of the things that I am hoping to take forward is the idea of a quiet space within Pride for exactly those people who want to be part of the day but who don't want to be in huge crowds. It can be such an overwhelming experience that having the opportunity to still be involved but in a quieter, more manageable way would help Pride reach out even further.

I am very sad that I am not there this year - but I had to be realistic as to what I can manage right now. Thankfully Team Pride have been very supportive and I will be back in the future.

Was in London for theatre and so got a bit of spectator first experience of pride. I'm guessing the football and the sun helped but I've never seen London heaving with so many smiling joyful people, it made me unexpectedly emotional

Pride in London costs just short of 1 million quid to stage. The aim is also to keep it a free event so that anyone can attend without being charged an entry fee.

If everyone who attended donated just £1, there would be no need for corporate sponsors. But they don't.

The compromise is that major sponsors are needed.

However this year, sponsors gave up part of their allocation of places in the parade to give room to every single community group who wanted to participate.

Which is why there were 500 groups marching with over 30000 participants. A huge march of protest and celebration.

I think it is important to preserve it as a free event and to keep it as a big presence. It is a huge statement to take over the centre of London for a day.

Unless other funding sources can be found, there will have to be corporate involvement.

As for Stonewall, they withdrew earlier this year because they believed that Pride in London was not diverse enough for them. It was a political decision on their part and not based on the reality of the organisation in 2018. 37 percent of volunteers are from BAME communities. That is pretty representative to me. Can more be done? Absolutely. Are Stonewall as diverse? No.

They would be welcomed back at any time. But they are pursuing a different agenda at the moment.

Bet you there'yl be a lot of very sore heads and discarded glitter right across London this morning.

I agree- Stonewall could have shown up, with a large 'quota' (for want of a better word) of BAME marchers, and used that to make a political statement within the march. Stonewall's agenda as an organisation has frequently baffled me in recent years however. There's many excellent well meaning people working there, but they have some very odd agendas at times. 

Meanwhile I posted on FB that I was watching 'Pride' the film instead of Pride, and told, none to politely by a Welsh Playwright that it is an abhorrent film because the Welsh accents aren't good enough (oh but that he hasn't watched it to know). I could be annoyed, but instead I just pity a man who can't find joy in that film. 

In a way I'm sorry that Pride has become quite so organised, but I do understand that times change and I'm old enough to remember the years when Pride went bust every year, and even the year it was cancelled the week before it was due to happen because the organisers couldn't pay the security bill (in the event a reduced event went ahead because the authorities recognised that huge numbers of people were going to turn up anyway).

So I do understand why the organisers need more corporate money, and I appreciate that there were more community groups this year, but there seems to be no space any more for the "unaffiliated". I used to meet a bunch of friends and we'd walk the march just as that - a group of gay people, representing nobody but ourselves. I am glad that society has moved on so far that we are now the centre of attention in London on this day, and there is such goodwill towards us (on the whole) that people turn out to celebrate, compared to the bad old days when we marched to Brockwell or Kennington, regarded with bemusement if not outright hostility from those people whose life we were disrupting.

But something still rankles that my sister, who is a "straight ally" for one of Pride's sponsors, was allocated two wristbands, one for her and one for her husband, which she had no intention of using as she's up North, while I'm stuck on the sidelines, watching rather than participating.

As costs go, in the great scheme of the progress of human rights, it's a small one.