UK: London Shows Its Pride - 365Gay.com

London Shows Its Pride
by Peter Moore 365Gay.com London Bureau
Posted: July 3, 2005 12:01 am ET


(London) More than 300,000 people celebrated LGBT Pride in the British capital on Saturday with a massive parade. The march was culmination of two weeks of pride events.

As gay civil rights groups, men in leather, club boys and drag queens were getting ready to set off from Trafalgar Square they had a surprise visit from Bob Geldof.

His Live 8 concert to draw attention to poverty in African was just getting under way across town and Geldof had a message for gays.

"Between what you people are doing and the people in the park are doing and the people around the world, we are going to stop one vast oppression of a vast minority - that's what we are going to do today," Geldof told marchers.

Elton John used Pride day to urge the Blair government to take a stand against worldwide homophobia.

"I want our government, which has presided over many positive changes for gay people here in the UK - an equal age of consent, partnership rights, the abolition of the rightly reviled Clause 28 - to ensure that ending violations of gay people's fundamental human rights around the world becomes an explicit issue in its diplomatic relations with other countries," he wrote in an op-ed piece for The Observer.

Of Gay Pride Day, Elton wrote that the there is a link between poverty and hate.

"The sheer force of our numbers will ultimately help to end the suffering from extreme poverty and extreme prejudice all over the world.

"There are many parts of the world where such a celebration could not take place, because basic human rights are not respected and people face threats, attacks, prosecution and even possible execution just because of their sexuality."

"I strongly believe that when thousands of us refuse to look away and stay silent we make a difference to what politicians do and say."

Saturday's parade featured more than 40 floats. Marchers made their way along Park Lane, through Westminster, past the Houses of Parliament and along Victoria Embankment.

At a rally following the parade, actor Sir Ian McKellen, London mayor Ken Livingstone and gay rights activist Peter Tatchell addressed the crowd.