Youmanity at London Pride!
We are delighted to announce that Youmanity will parade at Pride on 2nd July!
Fifty volunteers from both Youmanity and project partners, ‘Speaker Box Street Party, ’will parade through the streets of London to raise awareness of the benefits of dancing for mental well-being. Entitled STEP TOGETHER, the project promotes dancing as a way to combat stress and anxiety. When we dance we produce ‘happy hormones’ that stay in the body for up to a week after we’ve had our last boogie. So, at Pride, our volunteers will dance all the way through the route. Make sure you give them a good cheer!
Pride in London celebrates the diversity of people that make London one of the most vibrant cities in the world. Thousands of revellers of all gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation will take part in what is one of the longest running and biggest festivals in the country, attracting 1.5 million visitors.
The first UK festival celebrated specifically LGTBQ+ people. Gay Pride, as it was called back then, took place in London on 1st July 1972 (chosen because it was the nearest Saturday to the anniversary of the Stonewall riots of 1969). In 1985 representatives from mining groups joined the “Lesbians and Gay Support the Miners” group in recognition of the support given to striking miners. The Section 28 controversy highlighted the issues and led to an increase in numbers on the march.
Within a few years Gay Pride had become more of a carnival event with large gatherings and a fair after the marches. Following a vote by the members of the Pride Trust, the event was renamed “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride” and became the largest free music festival in Europe. In 1992 London was selected to hold the first Europride with an attendance of around 100,000 people which in 2006, when London again held Europride, had swelled to an estimated 600,000.
Due to the insolvency of the Pride Trust in 1998, no event was organised that year, not helped by the fact that it had been decided to make it a ticket only event. Another organisation then took over and renamed it “London Mardi Gras” but as a result of its failure to pay the bill for the use of Hyde Park was unable to run any more events.
“Pride in London” was created in 2004 and awarded charity status. It held a political rally in Trafalgar Square straight after the parade and more recently has organised several other events in the centre of London on Pride Day, including the “Big Gay Out” 2004 music festival in Finsbury Park, a woman’s stage in Soho and a party in Soho Square in the same year. In 2006 “Drag Idol” (celebrating a rainbow of performers) was held in Leicester Square.
The 2012 event, “World Pride” was the last event to be organised by “Pride London” and in late 2012 a group of individuals from within the LGBTQ community formed “London LGBT Community Pride”, a registered community interest company and they organised the 2013 festival and parade. The organisation has been awarded a contract to organise Pride in London for five years by the Greater London Authority and given funding of £500,000.
Covid-19 halted the course of Pride’s annual appointments. The parade on 2nd July will be the first Pride get together since the unpleasant lockdowns we all suffered.
Please don’t forget to cheers our amazing volunteers as they wave the Youmanity flag at such an important social appointment!
