Pride in London!

All of us who are openly gay are living and writing the history of our movement. We are no more - and no less - heroic than the suffragists and abolitionists of the 19th century; and the labour organizers, Freedom Riders, Stonewall demonstrators, and environmentalists of the 20th century. We are ordinary people, living our lives, and trying as civil-rights activist Dorothy Cotton said, to 'fix what ain't right' in our society.

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Last weekend the streets of central London were awash with colour as hundreds of thousands of people joined the annual Pride parade.

The capital was filled with rainbows and glitter on Saturday afternoon, in what has been hailed as Britain's biggest and most diverse Pride parade EVER! 1.5 million people turned out for the event. Around midday some 600 individual groups began marching through the streets for the annual burst of colour, music and dance.

Actors Sir Ian McKellen and Simon Callow were both pictured at the event, while the Red Arrows, (YES the real Royal Air Force ones!!), performed a stunning aerial display above London.

Donald Trump’s favourite, mayor, Sadiq Khan launched the parade refereeing to the "heart breaking" pictures of a bloodied lesbian couple attacked on a night bus showed the importance of Pride. Melanie Geymonat and her partner Chris were beaten up by a group of, well, he referred to them as “young men”, my description has to be toned down a little for the blog however, we’ll settle on Scum Bags, for refusing to kiss. They were punched and kicked and subjected to a torrent of abuse that can only be described as truly, utterly and totally unacceptable! Mr Khan said the "huge, huge progress" in gay rights should be celebrated, but added "we must never be complacent" – Why is this guy not a contender for our next prime minister??!?

The annual parade started at Portland Place and moved down Oxford Circus, passing along Regent Street, through Piccadilly Circus to Pall Mall and passing Trafalgar Square before finishing up on Whitehall. Joseph Canestrala, dressed in a blow-up unicorn costume, told the press "I'm from southern Italy and the mentality there is so closed. I came to London five years ago because I want to be free. Here, you meet more people. It's more open, you can find a partner. Every year I come to Pride. I LOVE it." And we love you Joseph!!

Even Terry May posted a video on Twitter in support of Pride. In it she said: "Pride season is always a high point of the summer. "It's a chance to celebrate the huge contribution that the LGBT community of all backgrounds make to our national life.”

This year's festival was especially poignant as it came fifty years since the Stonewall uprising in New York – a moment which changed the face of the gay rights movement around the world.

Parade groups honoured five decades of activism, protests and victories, and those behind this year's march said it was an opportunity for people to stand up against bigotry and hatred in all its forms.

I missed most of it this year as I didn’t get back from Italy until late on the Saturday however, I made up for it on the Sunday and partied with the best of them – and that’s the thing about Pride, it’s the atmosphere, everyone you see is smiling, everyone you hear sounds happy, I love to see the coppers with rainbows plastered over their faces, smiling and dancing with unicorns and flamingos, it’s totally bonkers but bonkers for all the right reasons!

This year's parade aimed to champion diversity, with the introduction of a new World Area at Golden Square in Soho, in a bid to increase the visibility of black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) LGBT+ people.

What’s on this week?