Today marked the 41st official Pride march in London, which wended its way from Baker St to Trafalgar Square around lunchtime.
No-one watching today’s march could have missed the fact that it continues to be scaled back year on year – although there were plenty of people participating, the long lines of floats are a thing of the past. This year has, however, seen the re-emergence of a large festival to go alongside the march, with Summer Rites taking place in Shoreditch Park (although at £35 a pop I can’t imagine that it will be as popular as the free events that used to take place in spots like Brockley Park and Victoria Park in years past). Celebrations also take place in Trafalgar Square every year now, which speaks volumes about the increasing acceptance of London’s LGBT community by wider society.
Contrast that with the issues that some of our European neighbours continue to face – for example this year’s Baltic Pride in Lithuania is once again threatened with cancellation because of issues around the safety of participants, the LGBT centre in Skopje (Macedonia’s capital) was attacked just a few days ago, and earlier today dozens of people were detained in Russia for trying to stage a Pride march in St Petersburg…
If you didn’t make it down to the West End today, here’s a selection of images of the colourful goings-on. You’ll find more in this Google+ album. Enjoy!