Pride

Pride, in the LGBT context, refers to events such as marches, parades, and festivals celebrating LGBT people proclaiming themselves as proud to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, rather than, as in previous generations, being ashamed or attempting to hide it. Pride originates from Gay Pride which was a celebration of same sex orientation and a protest against the laws prejudice against homosexuality. A measure of the success of this movement was that from the 1990s Pride festivals started up various towns and cities across the UK calling themselves "Solent Pride","Brighton Pride" and so on, without needing to spell out in the title that they are gay or LGBT events.

The first Gay Pride March in London was on the 1st of July 1972 and was organised by GLF. The date was chosen to be the nearest Saturday to the Stonewall riots of 1969 . The numbers taking part are estimated to be between 200-700 people . There had been a small march and rally the previous year, but it had not called itself a Pride march.

Gay Pride 1979 in London commemorated the tenth anniversary of Stonewall

Pride festivals have grown across the UK and now take place in many towns and cities each year.. The large Pride events have become a showcase for large commercial organisations and institutions to advertise their support for lgbt issues. But in becoming commercialised the original grass roots pride origins and ethos have been lost. Such that Simon Edge wrote in 2023 that Pride has become 'a bloated month of pinkwashed flummery, of re-imagined company logos, empty sloganeering and corporate parade float sponsorships' . The growth of transgender and other gender related causes has in recent years overshadowed the original focus of Gay Pride to such an extent that same sex related lesbian and gay involvement in Pride is very much a minority element today. And anyone supporting groups such as the LGBAlliance are not welcome at Pride.

See also

• List of Prides
• London Pride