Pride celebrations are kicking off in Edinburgh this weekend, and the city is literally giving the green light to participants in the Scottish capital.
35 traffic lights and pedestrian walk symbols along the parade route for Pride Edinburgh are getting special patterns over the green lights, each representing different aspects of the LGBTQ community, as well as a design for straight relationships.
“We’re delighted to be helping to display these diversity symbols through the Old Town as part of this year’s Pride Festival. We’re proud to be an LGBT+ friendly Council and these special traffic signals drive home our message — we welcome everyone to our city,” said Transport and Environment Vice Convener, Councilor Karen Doran in a press release on the lights.
The designs are courtesy of Siemens Mobility, and are being presented at no cost, to coincide with Pride Edinburgh on the 22nd of June. They will be removed post-parade, before the streets return to normal traffic.
A similar set of signal overlays was previously seen at London Pride.
“Diversity and inclusion is very important to us and our employees, and this is a great example of a simple idea having a major impact,” said Wilke Reints, Managing Director of Siemens Mobility’s Intelligent Traffic Systems. “It is one that was first introduced in London in 2016 and since then has gone from strength to strength.
“For the 2019 celebrations, we’ve worked with local authorities in six cities UK-wide to ensure more diversity symbols are on display than ever before to help raise awareness of LGBT+ issues,” Reints added.
Pride Edinburgh attracts several thousand people to the capital city. This year’s theme, “This Is Me,” seeks to focus on the individuals who make up the LGBTQ community.
