I’ve marched at every single London Pride since 1972 – these are my memories
London, pop stars, advertisers and corporate sponsors. There is massive media coverage. 30,000 people join the parade and 200,000 spectate on the pavements and join the post-march rally in Trafalgar Square and the open-air street parties in Soho.Back in 1972, what we then called ‘Gay Pride’ was organised by the Gay Liberation Front.
It was very different from today’s event: only 700 people marched, no politicians or entertainers turned up to show their support and the media ignored us.One of my standout memories from 1972 was on Oxford Street.
As the march passed by, an elderly woman, who looked about 90, stopped to look at my placard which read: ‘Gay is good.’ She asked: ‘What is gay?’ The word was not in common usage in those days. ‘Homosexual,’ I replied. ‘Oh,’ she sighed. ‘Live and let live.
Good luck!’Similar positive responses were a counterweight to the more numerous public hostility and gawping. We felt a tremendous sense of personal liberation that we had banished the internalised homophobia that had kept many of us in the closet for years.
