about pride london

Pride London aims to promote equality and diversity through all of its campaigns. The two week Pride festival uses theatre, music, debate, art and entertainment to raise awareness of discrimination and the issues and difficulties affecting the lives of LGBT people around the world. Our Parade is an explosion of Pride in the heart of the capital, attracting over 500,000 people in a celebration of diversity. Through this we aim to promote a sentiment in favour of equality, uniting people in a celebrative atmosphere where all are welcome, and fostering a sense of community within the LGBT population. Overall, Pride London hopes to promote understanding and cooperation, as well as education in diversity, in order to get rid of the discrimination faced by LGBT people.

By associating LGBT voluntary organizations with one another, Pride London manages to maximize their effectiveness and their outreach to the LGBT community. By allowing these charities to promote their services to a wider audience, we give them the opportunity to share information and work together. This creates a platform at Pride London where people can come and learn about LGBT charities, and find support or get involved.

Pride London is responsible for promoting, managing, arranging, supporting and conducting all the events of the festival, including the Parade, parties, exhibitions and entertainment. We recruit the best artists and entertainers, the top health advisors and high profile journalists to ensure that the events we put out are at the top of their game and that everyone who participates in Pride has a fantastic time.

Another of our aims is also to raise funds. As a registered charity run entirely by volunteers, we can never afford to sit back and enjoy the celebration (except perhaps on 05 July!). Instead, volunteers work the year round, campaigning and working to give the UK one of its best festivals every July.

Pride London is now in its fifth year as a registered charity, and continues to produce the UK’s largest annual LGBT event, drawing in crowds in excess of half a million people. Continuing to grow year on year, Pride London in 2008 promises to be one of our most visually spectacular, as the fairytales, myths and legends theme transforms London into a bursting display of colour and pride.

The Pride festival fortnight features a busy programme of entertainment; including theatre, music, comedy, sports, campaigning discussions and workshops. This culminates in the Parade on Saturday 05 July; one of the largest outdoor events in Europe and a highlight on the London calendar.

Fairytale floats will travel along some of the most famous streets in the world, including Oxford and Regent Streets, towards the main stage in Trafalgar Square. The main stage will mix entertainment and campaigning, whilst Leicester Square is taken over by some of the finest cabaret artists around. Soho will play host to the legendary party, as revellers take to the streets, bars and restaurants, as well as Soho Square, to enjoy the entertainments of the Women’s, BAME and Dance stages.

Behind our Fairytales, Myths and Legends theme lies the sad truth that Pride is in fact a fantasy for many LGBT people across the world. Pride London therefore campaigns on a number of issues throughout the year. Recently, Pride London twinned with Pride in Riga, highlighting the distance that the LGBT community must still travel in ensuring equality for all. Pride London has also worked recently alongside the Orange nightclub to raise awareness of the dangers of GHB use, as well as distributing safer-sex materials throughout central London.

Pride London is unique amongst the larger UK Prides in this active campaigning. As a registered charity, our work is enabled entirely by donations and sponsorship, and our events are organised and run solely by volunteers. You can help make a difference to the lives of LGBT people and support Pride London at the same time by donating at the bottom of this page.

We also encourage involvement from all areas of the community, so please visit our volunteering page for details of how you can get involved.

patrons

Pride London is lucky to have a number of supportive patrons.  They give their time and resources to support us in a variety of ways, but most importantly by continuing to raise the profile of Pride London and of LGBT rights in the UK and across the world.

They are:

Lord Waheed Alli  - Lord Alli is a media entrepreneur and politician. He was co-founder and managing director of Planet 24, a TV production company, and Managing Director at Carlton Television Productions. He is a Labour Lord.

Rhona Cameron  - Rhona is a comedian. She rose to fame via the stand-up comedy circuit, to became a regular on British television.

Michael Cashman MEP  - Michael is a former actor, now a Labour politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999.

Mz Fontaine  - Mz Fontaine is the stage name of lesbian rapper Naomi Romeo. She was born in Guyana, South America and moved to London in 1992. She also founded record label Foundation Entertainment catering for LGBT artists in 2001.

Stephen Fry  - Stephen is a comedian, writer and actor. He is famous as one half of comedy duo Fry and Laurie, and for his roles in Blackadder and Wilde, as well as being host of television panel game QI. He has written four novels and an autobiography.

Sir Elton John  - Sir Elton isone of the dominant forces in rock and popular music having sold more than 250 million albums and over one hundred million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. Sir Elton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS since the late 1980s and was knighted in 1998.

Zoe Lyons  - Zoe is a comedian actor and writer.  She has appeared in shows such as ITV's Survivor, where she revealed rat does not taste like chicken, and on numerous BBC Radio4 dramas.  Zoe is also a regular on the stand-up comedy circuit and at the annual Edinburgh Festival.

Sir Ian McKellen  - Sir Ian is an stage and screen actor and LGBT right campaigner. He is best known for roles such as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and as Magneto in the X-Men films. His work has spanned Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979, knighted in 1991 for his outstanding work and contributions to the theatre and made a Companion of Honour in 2008 for services to drama and to equality. He is a founding member of Stonewall.

Wayne Sleep  - Wayne is dancer, director and coreographer.  He has been  Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet and has appeared as a Guest Artist with several other ballet companies.  He was appointed OBE in 1998.

Lord Chris Smith  - Lord Smith is a Labour Lord and former Member of Parliament and Cabinet minister. He was the UK's first openly gay MP, coming out in 1984 and, in 2005, the first MP to acknowledge that he is HIV positive.

Clare Summerskill  - Clare is a comedian and writer.  She believes in bringing a unique cocktail of dyke comedy to mainly LGBT audiences, as well as writing for theatre and radio and owning her own theatre production company.

Peter Tatchell  - Peter is one of the most prominent campaigners for LGBT and human rights, democracy and global justice. He is a member of the queer human rights group OutRage!, and the left-wing of the Green Party. Peter is the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Oxford East, and the Green Party's spokesperson on human rights. He lists his key political inspirations as Mahatma Gandhi, Sylvia Pankurst, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.