98% of LGBTQ+ people believe Pride is still absolutely essential
On 1 July, the UK marks 50 years since its very first Pride event took place on the streets of London. Around 2,000 people marched down Regent’s Street in London in the name of Gay Pride on 1 July 1972.
Up to 40 members of the Gay Liberation Front had organised the protest, hoping it would serve as an antidote to widespread gay shame prevalent throughout the community.
Same-sex sexual acts had only been decriminalised in England and Wales five years earlier, so the LGBTQ+ community was still dealing with the trauma they’ve suffered during the decades before. “They were ashamed of their sexuality and gender identity so our counter to gay shame was Gay Pride,” Peter Tatchell – one of the people who organised that 1972 Pride march – recently told GAY TIMES.
Original organised to commemorate the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, Pride has grown into a mammoth annual LGBTQ+ event of protest and celebration.
