More than a million people are expected to gather for London’s first Pride since the pandemic.
Saturday’s event also marks the 50th anniversary of the first UK Pride parade, which was attended by around 2,000 people.
Featuring a parade and line-up of artists performing on four stages across central London, this year’s Pride has been billed by organizers as “the biggest and most inclusive event ever”.
Uniformed officers have been asked not to take part in the parade, which starts at noon at Hyde Park Corner.
It follows calls by LGBTQ+ campaigners for them to be banned over Scotland Yard’s alleged homophobic attitude towards the investigation into serial killer Stephen Port.
The Metropolitan Police said on Friday that officers who wanted to join the celebrations should do so in civilian clothes and not in police uniform, after listening to the “legitimate concerns” of activists.
Members of the Met’s LGBTQ+ network are expected to take part in the parade on Saturday afternoon, while uniformed officers will continue to police the event.
Matt Jukes, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said: “I understand people’s concerns about the Met’s involvement in London Pride. Everyone who will be attending the parade has asked to be part of Pride as a member of our LGBT+ staff network.”
The parade is set to pay tribute to the 1972 march – passing significant sites from the UK’s early gay rights movement – and will run until 6pm, ending at the Palace of Whitehall. More than 600 LGBTQ+ groups are expected to join the march, for which 30,000 people have signed up so far.
Among the stars to take to the stage throughout the day is American pop singer Ava Max, who will close the show on the Trafalgar Stage.
Emeli Sande, Eurovision winner Neta, Samantha Mumba and Kat Graham are also in the line-up.
The first UK Pride event was held in response to the Stonewall Riots, which began in June 1969 following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York.
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who has been among the organizers of the event since 1972, told the Guardian: “We came up with the idea of the Gay Parade, as it was called then, to challenge the overwhelming consensus, which was that we should be ashamed of who we were.
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“Pride was what was chosen to counter the notion that we should be ashamed and that there is something fundamentally wrong with being LGBTQ+. As far as I know, London Pride was the first in the world to be called Pride.
Organizers said all revenue raised from commercial partnerships this year will be reinvested in the LGBTQ+ community, including through the Unity Fund.
Public health officials urged people with symptoms of monkeypox or those who feel unwell not to attend Pride events on Saturday.
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