Let’s take a trip down memory lane to find out how we fought for our rights back in 1972
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY PICRYL
For the last 53 years, we’ve been waving our rainbow flags high, placards in the wind, demanding equal rights and protections for all people in the LGBTQIA+ community. Pride is a protest, a pilgrimage and a party, inviting us all to come together and be united as one. June, in all its summer glory, becomes a hub for LGBTQIA+ community organising.
But how did the UK get here? First, we have to make our way across the pond, to a gay bar that was raided on Christopher Street in 1969.
What was the Stonewall Uprising?
In order to understand the origins of Pride, it’s imperative that we look to the Stonewall Uprising first. On 28 June 1969, the police raided a popular gay bar in New York called the Stonewall Inn. These raids were not uncommon, but often were squashed with money from the mafia. But this raid was different. And the response from Stonewall’s patrons would go on to start a revolution.
Following this raid, LGBTQIA+ people turned out in droves to protest and riot against the actions of the police, coming together to show that the queer community would not take any more violence. The Stonewall Uprising became a symbol to the world that LGBTQIA+ people were done with hiding. It was time to fight for our rights. A year later, the world’s first Pride was held in New York, changing the course of the LGBTQIA+ civil rights movement forever.
How did Pride in the UK start?
Inspired by the events happening across the pond, LGBTQIA+ people in the UK began to put a plan into action. The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was galvanised shortly after the Stonewall Uprising, and started to lay the foundations for Pride to occur. Two activists in particular – Aubrey Walter and Bob Mellor – actually went to the US to attend the Black Panthers’ Revolutionary People’s Convention which invited women’s and LGBTQIA+ groups for the first time.
Although homosexuality wasn’t illegal anymore in the UK by this point, there were still bans in place on LGBTQIA+ people serving in the armed forces and no legal protections against discrimination based on sexuality. In 1970, the GLF held their first meeting, and soon after held their first demonstration in Highbury Fields with balloons, flares and fireworks.
A year later, in 1971, a GLF youth group demonstrated in Trafalgar Square about the age of consent for gay men being 21 in what is sometimes described as the “Pride before Pride”.
What happened at the UK’s first-ever Pride?
On 1 July 1972, nearly 2,000 people marched in London for the UK’s first-ever Pride. The programme for the first Pride included the sentence: “We are gay and we are proud and we are going to enjoy ourselves.” Moving from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park, the group were met with heavy police presence. Armed with queer joy and a spirit of defiance that had travelled overseas, Pride was not squashed but ignited. What had happened could not be undone.
What happened next?
For a long time, Pride was not organised by one single group in the UK. In fact, in 1981, the Pride march moved from London to Huddersfield to show solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community who had reported instances of abuse and raids by police at the time. Famously, in 1985 representatives from mining groups joined the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners group (LGSM) in Pride to show recognition of the support they had given to the striking miners before.
By 1996, Pride was renamed Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride and was an event of solidarity, queer joy and political action. Pride was still not a fixed event each year, and a number of circumstances saw Pride not take place in the 80s and 90s.
However, in 2004, Pride London formed and was made a charity, creating a number of new events like the Big Gay Out festival. A group of individuals created the London LGBT+ Community Pride – a community interest company – in 2012 who would later create the Pride in London that we know and love today.
How has Pride evolved?
While the aim of Pride is to create a space where everyone feels included, this is sadly not always the case. To create spaces for communities to feel heard, a number of grassroots Prides have emerged over the last 20 years to show up for groups within the community who are often silenced. Events like UK Black Pride, Trans Pride Hastings and London Dyke March are all leading the way in creating a new legacy for Pride – one where everyone gets to be respected, seen and valued.
What happens outside of London?
From one Pride a year to hundreds taking place across the country in 2025, Pride has become a firm fixture in towns and cities across the UK. Manchester, Brighton and Birmingham Pride have all become cultural cornerstones for the community, bringing in LGBTQIA+ people from around the world to see top-notch performances. From Highland Pride in Inverness to Truro Pride, there are Pride events happening in every corner of the UK. If there’s not one near you – why not be the trailblazer to start it? Walk in the footsteps of our LGBTQIA+ ancestors and show that our love is loud, it’s beautiful and it’s going to always be there.
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‘Although homosexuality wasn’t illegal anymore in the UK by this point’ – it was illegal in Northern Ireland until 1981. Belfast Pride has been running since 1991 and there are 9 Pride happening across Northern Ireland from June – September this year.