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For three long years, London has been missing its annual helping of giant rainbow flags, glitter-festooned floats and pop music echoing around Soho Square. So it’s a big relief that Pride in London is making a much-anticipated comeback on Saturday July 2.
Not only is this year’s Pride parade special because it will be the first time since 2019 that people from across the LGBTQ+ community have been able to meet up and celebrate IRL, but 2022 also marks the fiftieth anniversary of London’s first-ever Pride rally.
In 1972 just a few hundred people marched through central London as part of a week of a heavily policed demonstration, but 50 years on record crowds of more than 1.5 million are expected to join the celebrations, either as part of the 300 floats travelling through the streets, or as spectators bringing the feel-good vibes.
In honour of the big anniversary, this year’s parade will follow the same route as the 1972 march. Already decked out with colourful flags for the occasion, the route will start at Hyde Park Corner, wending its way down Piccadilly, through to Haymarket and then on to Trafalgar Square, before eventually finishing in Whitehall.
At the end of the parade, there will be a moment of reflection, which organisers are calling ‘50 seconds of all of our pride’, giving attendees a quiet moment to look back on the last half-century of LGBTQ+ history.
The theme of this year’s march 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’. It’s also calling on the UK government to ban conversion therapy for all LGBTQ+ people, reform the Gender Recognition Act, provide equal protection for LGBTQ+ communities against hate crime, establish a national Aids memorial and more.
And while the 1972 event ended in a post-march picnic, the 2022 incarnation will carry on the party after the parade has ended with four stages across London platforming grassroots and DIY performers as well as hosting gigs from big names like Emeli Sandé, Ava Max, Samantha Mumba and Eurovision winner Netta.
Pride in London’s executive director, Christopher Joell-Deshields, said: ‘For 50 years, Pride has been a visible cultural protest that brings the LGBT+ community and its allies together in solidarity. It is important to recognise the activists who were brave enough to come out in 1972 to march for our liberation and pave the way for the rights we enjoy today.’
It’s been a long time coming, so go out, celebrate and make this Pride an extra-special one.
Find out everything you need to know about this year’s Pride Parade, including the route, start times and where to watch.
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