Veterans from UK’s first Pride to mark 50th anniversary of ‘revolutionary’ event
London for the UK’s first-ever Pride march.The group marched from Trafalgar Square to Hyde park carrying placards, banners and chanting slogans.There was a heavy police presence and a not wholly welcoming reaction from the public but the march, organised by the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), was Britain’s first Pride and in the words of one attendee ‘signalled a real change in British society’.On July 1, 2022, veterans of the first Pride march will retrace the route of the original protest to mark the event’s 50th anniversary.Among them will be today’s guest editor Peter Tatchell, who was one of around 30 GLF members who helped organise the inaugural march.‘We came up with the idea of gay pride because mainstream straight society said we should be ashamed of who we were,’ Peter told Metro.co.uk.Homosexuality between men was partially decriminalised in 1967, but it did little to reduce discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.‘Gay bashing and violence was rife, including murders,’ Peter added.‘Most LGBT+ people dared not come out and show their faces in public.‘They feared arrest, rejection by their friends and families and being sacked from their jobs.‘Organising the first gay Pride was a huge gamble, we had no idea if anybody would turn up.’Two weeks before the march Peter and other members of the GLF went to Earls Court to spread the word about the march.‘We received a mostly negative reaction from gay men at The Bolton and Coleherne pubs,’ he said.‘Bar staff and customers forced us out of the Coleherne and some gay customers threw bottles and coins at us.‘They said things like you “Shouldn’t draw attention to us”, “Don’t make a fuss.
