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Welcome to the Pride London blog. As well as keeping you informed on the progress and planning of Pride London, we'd also like to use this blog to highlight the wider issues of Pride and LGBT life and politics. We will therefore be inviting people to "guest blog" for us; to give their take on the LGBT issues of the day.
Nick Clegg - 22 July 08
Iris Robinson has proved that discrimination is still an everyday problem for many gay people
I was appalled this week by the homophobic comments made by Iris Robinson. But it’s a mark of how far our country has come that almost everyone in Westminster shared that anger. There is a lot more work to do to rid our country of prejudice altogether, but I am thankful that much has changed since the days when these sort of comments were tolerated – or even considered mainstream.
Kristian Johns - 17 July 08
HIV and the “Tombstone Generation”
With the campaign to open the UK’s first weekend HIV testing and support centre well underway, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to everyone who lent their support this year at Pride, from the organiser to the marchers, to all those who took the time to send those all important texts to raise money.
Paul Birrell - 04 July 08
All we want are the rights that everyone else enjoys
Pride London is in its fifth year and remains the UK's largest Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) event. Why do we have it, though? Prides are often seen as little more than parties, a chance to catch up with friends and drink and dance the day through. Quite often it seems as if LGBT people have achieved equality, with civil partnerships, general acceptance in the workplace, the abolition of Section 28 and other huge leaps forward. Even HIV is no longer the headline-grabber it was during the dark days of the Eighties. So why do we need Pride?
Anastasia Beaumont-Bott LGBTory - 27 June 08
I am ready to take LGBTory to the next level!
LGBTory initially came about as an initiative set up with the support of the Scottish Conservative Party, as a means of providing representation of the Conservative Party at Pride Scotia; Scotland’s biggest gay pride event.
Proud 2 Serve - 11 June 08
The LGBT community in the Armed Forces
Armed Forces personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army, Royal Air Force and our reserves have been participating as individuals in Pride events since they began, alongside the rest of the community. It has only been possible for them to be there ‘officially' within the last few years, due to the ban on homosexuality in the Armed Forces which was in place until 2000.
Davis Mac-Iyalla - 02 June 08
A Step Forward in the West and 2 Steps Backward in Africa
Last year I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit several Prides in the US; The first ones I had ever been to. It was a revelation to me. I was overwhelmed by the sense of freedom among such huge crowds of people, and the sense of security people had in their sense of identity about who they were. Until I had seen such a situation with my own eyes and experienced the feeling of the crowd I could not quite really believe it was somehow completely true. Sometimes our imaginations are not enough to get a clear idea of the goal when we are fighting for something that deep down we believe is a just situation - sometimes even a brief experience of is the only way to really crystallise and get clear in our minds exactly what we are fighting for.
Niall McDougall - 30 May 08
“47 year old bear seeks 35 to 42 year old chubby lorry/taxi driver for good times.”
Don’t you love the reading material in loos; this one is a real gem. Could you get any more specific? And if you are on the prowl, could you narrow your choices down any further? Perhaps he should have specified hair colour.
The gay community [sic] continuously fragments, obsessing with specifics and types. There are clubs for ethnicities, bars for age groups (and the ubiquitous admirers thereof), venues for sexual tastes, forums for image styles, activities for pastime preferences and an all encompassing deluge of cultural high brow and trashtasticness.
Colm Howard-Lloyd - 16 May 08
Is Pride just a party?
There is a much over-used cliché - "I remember my first pride..." I'll be honest, I'm not sure I actually do. I don't doubt it was a pretty great experience but did it change my life?
I'm 30, old enough to remember when pride had a strong and universally understood (if not always agreed with) politics; but not old enough to have marched demanding basic recognition and legality. So where are we now? Is Pride just a party?
Kristine Garina - 08 May 08
Are we asking for too much in Latvia?
The first attempt to hold a pride parade in Riga took place in summer of 2005 - it gathered about 80 pride marchers and thousands of protestors that surrounded them. Just 3 years later I feel like it's been a lifetime long struggle - like I've been on war for decades. But this is not a war for oil - there can actually be a winner.
Peter Tatchell - 05 May 08
Why is Labour blocking gay equality?
Labour likes to claim that it is gay-friendly. The government makes a big effort to show off its pro-gay credentials, boasting about its openly gay MPs and its many gay law reforms. Very commendable. But Labour’s record on LGBT issues is sometimes not as wonderful as it claims.
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